Maryland · Nonprofit
THE VENETOULIS INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL JOURNALISM
THE VENETOULIS INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL JOURNALISM (Maryland) receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $54,779,803 to it, the largest being Fund for the Common Good ($29,602,371). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $27M
- Funders on record
- 54
- Grants received
- $55M
- Net assets
- $18M
What The Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism does
Mission
To be the most essential and compelling news resource for the people of maryland. We inform, stregthen, and inspire the communities we serve by providing trusted journalism that tells people's stories, holds leaders accountable, and delivers a wide range of local news that readers and partners are eager to support.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The venetoulis institute is a nonprofit organization founded to bring high-quality local journalism to baltimore and maryland. In june 2022, we launched the baltimore banner to fulfill our mission. The banner is a multi-platform news operation covering a broad range of topics, from local and state government to business, sports, education, culture, and the arts. We seek to create a vibrant, trustworthy, and sustainable news organization that reinvents what local journalism can be.
$25,355,630 spent$7,522,676 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $25,355,630.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $21M to $24M (+16%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
54% of THE VENETOULIS INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL JOURNALISM’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 4 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
Stewart Bainum Jr
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 19 funders, grant income fell $14M → $14M.
9 of 54 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 2% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of THE VENETOULIS INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL JOURNALISM’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 54 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
THE VENETOULIS INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL JOURNALISM leans on a few funders — its largest provides 54% of grant income and the top three 91%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
57% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund THE VENETOULIS INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL JOURNALISM.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 88% · 2022 58% · 2023 94% — growing more concentrated.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Where its funders are
97% of THE VENETOULIS INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL JOURNALISM's grant income comes from Maryland funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
THE VENETOULIS INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL JOURNALISM receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $55M to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 772 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like THE VENETOULIS INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL JOURNALISM
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Maryland
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Banner Media LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE VENETOULIS INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL JOURNALISM: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds THE VENETOULIS INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL JOURNALISM?
- THE VENETOULIS INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL JOURNALISM (Maryland) receives grants from 54 organizations whose IRS filings report $54,779,803 to it, the largest being Fund for the Common Good ($29,602,371). 23 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE VENETOULIS INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL JOURNALISM have?
- IRS filings report 54 organizations giving $54,779,803 in grants to THE VENETOULIS INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL JOURNALISM, 23 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE VENETOULIS INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL JOURNALISM?
- Fund for the Common Good is the largest funder on record, with $29,602,371 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE VENETOULIS INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL JOURNALISM find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maryland. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2021–2024), and the filings of 54 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing