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New York · Nonprofit

TRACE MEDIA INC

TRACE MEDIA INC (New York) receives grants from 49 organizations whose IRS filings report $22,322,966 to it, the largest being EVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY SUPPORT FUND INC ($8,822,982). 33 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$6.3M
Funders on record
49
Grants received
$22M
Net assets
$4.4M
33/49 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 88%
01What it does

What Trace Media Inc does

Mission

The trace is an independent, nonpartisan, reader-supported nonprofit journalism organization dedicated to reporting on gun violence in the united states. Employing the full toolsets of modern investigative reporting and audience engagement, we strive to expand public knowledge and accountability regarding an issue of under-appreciated national significance.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. In 2023, the trace produced more than 425 investigations, news articles, feature stories, special projects, and newsletter briefings, informing an audience of 4.05 million at thetrace.org and apple news, and millions more via the trace's publishing partners. Significant focuses of our reporting included the expansion of community violence intervention programs, the gun industry, and the role of firearms in domestic violence, adolescent trauma, and suicide. New initiatives in 2023 included the launch of a newsletter ("the trajectory") focused on solutions to gun violence, a first-person storytelling project with survivors of gun violence in chicago, and an eight-episode podcast collaboration on the history of firearm deregulation.

    $3,493,470 spent$3,000 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $3,493,470.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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.

100 = 20192019 Revenue 100 ($3.0M) Expenses 100 ($3.1M) Net assets 100 ($965k)2020 Revenue 117 ($3.6M) Expenses 96 ($3.0M) Net assets 159 ($1.5M)2021 Revenue 118 ($3.6M) Expenses 104 ($3.3M) Net assets 193 ($1.9M)2022 Revenue 113 ($3.4M) Expenses 117 ($3.7M) Net assets 166 ($1.6M)2023 Revenue 200 ($6.1M) Expenses 140 ($4.4M) Net assets 342 ($3.3M)2024 Revenue 207 ($6.3M) Expenses 165 ($5.2M) Net assets 459 ($4.4M)
201920202021202220232024
Revenue (207)Expenses (165)Net assets (459)Peer revenue range

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 $1.7M to $3.3M (+92%).

$1.1M
$1.6M
$1.9M
$1.7M
$3.3M
$4.5M
201920202021202220232024
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

99% of TRACE MEDIA INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 5,395 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

−$92k
’19
$567k
’20
$329k
’21
−$258k
’22
$1.7M
’23
$1.1M
’24
5.4
months of
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.

201920202021202220232024
Listed111213111111
Joined·+3+3+1+2+4
No longer listed·22324
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 27 funders, grant income rose $542k → $4.2M.

13 of 49 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 28% 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 TRACE MEDIA INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 49 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

TRACE MEDIA INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 40% of grant income and the top three 61%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

68% 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 TRACE MEDIA INC.

40%
largest funder
61%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 46% · 2019 69% · 2020 52% · 2021 58% · 2022 51% · 2023 32% — 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

46% of TRACE MEDIA INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

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

57% of TRACE MEDIA INC's grant income comes from New York funders.

WA
MN
IL
NY
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
CO
MD
DE
DC
TX

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
New York out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

TRACE MEDIA INC runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin18% · above the median
Months of reserve5.4mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)16% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Organizations like TRACE MEDIA 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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

82% of spending goes to programs.

Program 82%Management 8%Fundraising 10%

Governance

5
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

82%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 38 states

AK
ME
NH
WA
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
HI
OK
MS
AL
GA
FL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for TRACE MEDIA 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.

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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 TRACE MEDIA INC?
TRACE MEDIA INC (New York) receives grants from 49 organizations whose IRS filings report $22,322,966 to it, the largest being EVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY SUPPORT FUND INC ($8,822,982). 33 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does TRACE MEDIA INC have?
IRS filings report 49 organizations giving $22,322,966 in grants to TRACE MEDIA INC, 33 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of TRACE MEDIA INC?
EVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY SUPPORT FUND INC is the largest funder on record, with $8,822,982 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like TRACE MEDIA 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 Trace Media →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 49 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing