Massachusetts · Nonprofit
THE WILLIAM J SEYMOUR INSTITUTE FOR BLACK CHURCH AND POLICY STUDIES INC
THE WILLIAM J SEYMOUR INSTITUTE FOR BLACK CHURCH AND POLICY STUDIES INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $826,649 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($185,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $342k
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $827k
- Net assets
- $382k
What The William J Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies Inc does
Mission
The william j. Seymour institute for black church and policy studies will educate and train black church leaders (including clergy, seminarians and lay men and women) as well the interested public, regarding a proper christian philosophic and theological understanding of complex questions confronting the black church at this period in our history. An uncompromising commitment to the poor inspires the seymour institute's mission because of the greater vulnerability of economically disadvantaged populations to the harms that arise from improper societal action in the areas of concern.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The institute delivered a religious freedom summit in april 2025 in collaboration with the betsy stockton center at the princeton theological seminary. Fiscal year 2025 saw another successful delivery of the annual academic summer programs, which aim to reduce the usual summer slide among disadvantaged students in the boston area. Middle school students showed growth in math and language arts, and high school students demonstrated growth in knowledge of african and african american studies in boston and cambridge. In 2025, the program was offered to cambridge youth for the second consecutive year. As is customary, the hybrid summer programs for high school youth also provided income-earning opportunities. The research project in post-secular science continued the focus on writing retreats. An essay arising from this work is scheduled for publication in fiscal year 2026. The black church research project 'formerly' the black church social service project began in 2024 and successfully recruited 15 churches to participate. The goal of surveying 20 churches was completed in fiscal year 2025.
$463,413 spent$23,000 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $463,413.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 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 2022 to 2023, from $187k to $690k (+268%).
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: 2020 9% · 2021 7% · 2024 1% · 2025 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
93% of THE WILLIAM J SEYMOUR INSTITUTE FOR BLACK CHURCH AND POLICY STUDIES INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (100% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 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.
Chief executive
Dr Jacqueline C Rivers
Executive director
Board chair
Amos N Jones Esq
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $45k → $260k.
3 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 33% 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 WILLIAM J SEYMOUR INSTITUTE FOR BLACK CHURCH AND POLICY STUDIES 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 WILLIAM J SEYMOUR INSTITUTE FOR BLACK CHURCH AND POLICY STUDIES INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
63% 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 WILLIAM J SEYMOUR INSTITUTE FOR BLACK CHURCH AND POLICY STUDIES INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 56% · 2018 53% · 2019 100% · 2021 80% · 2022 55% · 2023 46% — diversifying over time.
“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
0% of THE WILLIAM J SEYMOUR INSTITUTE FOR BLACK CHURCH AND POLICY STUDIES INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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 WILLIAM J SEYMOUR INSTITUTE FOR BLACK CHURCH AND POLICY STUDIES INC draws 75% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 10 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $275k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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 WILLIAM J SEYMOUR INSTITUTE FOR BLACK CHURCH AND POLICY STUDIES INC is better cushioned than half of the 7,334 religion nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,334 religion nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like THE WILLIAM J SEYMOUR INSTITUTE FOR BLACK CHURCH AND POLICY STUDIES 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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
72%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 7 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE WILLIAM J SEYMOUR INSTITUTE FOR BLACK CHURCH AND POLICY STUDIES 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 WILLIAM J SEYMOUR INSTITUTE FOR BLACK CHURCH AND POLICY STUDIES INC?
- THE WILLIAM J SEYMOUR INSTITUTE FOR BLACK CHURCH AND POLICY STUDIES INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $826,649 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($185,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE WILLIAM J SEYMOUR INSTITUTE FOR BLACK CHURCH AND POLICY STUDIES INC have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $826,649 in grants to THE WILLIAM J SEYMOUR INSTITUTE FOR BLACK CHURCH AND POLICY STUDIES INC, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE WILLIAM J SEYMOUR INSTITUTE FOR BLACK CHURCH AND POLICY STUDIES INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $185,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE WILLIAM J SEYMOUR INSTITUTE FOR BLACK CHURCH AND POLICY STUDIES INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 William J Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), 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