New York · Nonprofit
THE VII FOUNDATION INC
THE VII FOUNDATION INC (New York) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,561,564 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM JEFF AND JENNIFER GROSS FAMILY FOUNDATION ($11,705,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.8M
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $15M
- Net assets
- $1.8M
What The VII Foundation Inc does
Mission
The vii foundation's mission is to transform visual journalism by empowering new voices and creating stories that advocate change. In a world where beliefs and actions are increasingly out-of-sync with facts and realities, transforming visual journalism is an urgent task.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
As the educational wing of the vii foundation, vii academy promotes, teaches, and fosters high quality journalism. Vii academy provides real- world, tuition-free training and practice as a new generation of journalists and visual practitioners build a contemporary global media environment. It teaches and mentors visual journalists across media practice, photojournalism, ethics, and media entrepreneurship, thereby enabling in the long term a culture where the information narrative is democratized.
$502,249 spent$8,877 earned by the program30% of program spendingThe peace project explores the conditions of peace processes in lebanon, northern ireland, bosnia, rwanda, indochina, and colombia. Leading photographers and writers of war will return to those countries where they first reported during conflict. Others who lived through war will add their voices to the project. Project will examine failures and successes of the past to build peace that will endure into the future. The peace project is a book, exhibition, education, and advocacy project.
$251,124 spent15% of program spendingVii insider is a free online platform that takes the general public inside the profession of visual journalism to advance the production and analysis of new stories. Vii insider offers regular live presentations, a video collection of previous events and publishes writing on the role of images in its blog, dispaches.
$251,124 spent15% of program spendingGrants to organizations supporting the mission of the vii association, inc. Project to archive images from the public's lost rolls of film lost rolls america lost rolls america ensures the creation of a national archive of images from the public's lost rolls of film, and acts as a digital repository of visual memories. Equity from the frontlines in partnership with the center for health equity of the nyc health department and community stakeholders, photographers from vii foundation documented community health workers working with residents living in nyc neighborhoods that have experienced structural racism and have been marked by disinvestment. Millennium villages project- bus tours to educate 8th -12th grades vii insider promotes debate and discussion to advance the production and analysis of documentary stories addressing complex social, economic, environmental and human rights issues.
$669,666 spent40% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,674,163.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 2018 to 2019, from $5.4M to $4.0M (−26%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2021 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of THE VII FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 7 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
Andrew Reid
Chair of boa
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 5 funders, grant income fell $1.7M → $820k.
4 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% 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 VII FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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 VII FOUNDATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 80% of grant income and the top three 95%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 85% · 2018 94% · 2019 91% · 2020 97% · 2021 96% · 2022 96% · 2023 91% — 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.
How long its funders stay
43% of THE VII FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 43% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
THE VII FOUNDATION INC draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside New York, across 7 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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 VII FOUNDATION INC is better cushioned than half of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like THE VII FOUNDATION INC
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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- VII Academy LLC · disregarded
- The Stringer Film LLC · disregarded
- Vll Foundation Films LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE VII FOUNDATION INC: 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 VII FOUNDATION INC?
- THE VII FOUNDATION INC (New York) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,561,564 to it, the largest being THE WILLIAM JEFF AND JENNIFER GROSS FAMILY FOUNDATION ($11,705,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE VII FOUNDATION INC have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $14,561,564 in grants to THE VII FOUNDATION INC, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE VII FOUNDATION INC?
- THE WILLIAM JEFF AND JENNIFER GROSS FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $11,705,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE VII FOUNDATION INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 VII →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 14 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