New York · Nonprofit
TRUE COLORS UNITED INC
TRUE COLORS UNITED INC (New York) receives grants from 104 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,617,568 to it, the largest being CONRAD N HILTON FOUNDATION ($3,687,400). 37 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.4M
- Funders on record
- 104
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $4k
What True Colors United Inc does
Mission
True colors united implements innovative solutions to youth homelessness that focus on the unique experiences of lgbtq young people.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Advocacy: true colors united works in washington d.c. And state capitols around the country to give lgbtq youth experiencing homelessness a voice in government and to ensure strong public policy is in place so that vital social services are properly funded and lgbtq+ and bipoc youth are protected. Projects include the administrative public policy project, legislative public policy project, and the state index on youth homelessness. True colors united also works to inspire, engage, and empower the public to get involved in ending homelessness among lgbtq+ and bipoc youth and create a world in which they can be their true selves. Projects include #truecolorsday and the safe home campaign with the united nations human rights office.
$1,593,360 spent46% of program spendingTechnical assistance: true colors united provides technical assistance to communities on building system-level responses to youth homelessness that provide meaningful opportunities for young people to lead at the local level. The technical assistance department works with communities that have been awarded hud's youth homelessness demonstration program funding to support them in developing a strong action plan for youth collaboration alongside federal project funding for youth services while building their competencies in lgbtq+ and racial equity.
$1,239,658 spent36% of program spendingTraining and education: true colors united works with communities and service providers, such as shelters, transitional living programs, and other public and private housing and homelessness agencies, to ensure lgbtq+ and bipoc youth experiencing homelessness have access to the inclusive and affirming services they need. True colors united develops resources to provide education and training to service providers about lgbtq+ identity, discrimination, racial equity, youth collaboration, and project management. These resources include the equity hub, online learning community, digital toolkits, video trainings, and other safe space tools.
$593,087 spent17% of program spendingTechnical assistance, international, & general program
$35,606 spent1% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,461,711.
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 $4.7M to $534k (−89%).
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: 2017 3% · 2019 10% · 2020 18% · 2021 10% · 2022 8% · 2024 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of TRUE COLORS UNITED INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (97% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Chief executive
Francis Dylan Waguespack
Chief executive officer
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 18 funders to 20 funders, grant income rose $396k → $1.8M.
24 of 104 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% 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 TRUE COLORS UNITED INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 104 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
TRUE COLORS UNITED INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 35% 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
36% 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 TRUE COLORS UNITED INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 38% · 2018 17% · 2019 16% · 2020 33% · 2021 30% · 2022 37% · 2023 54% — 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
18% of TRUE COLORS UNITED INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 36% 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
TRUE COLORS UNITED INC draws 85% of its grant income from funders outside New York, across 25 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 16 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
TRUE COLORS UNITED INC's funding base is broadening — from 18 funders to 20 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 976 civil rights nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like TRUE COLORS UNITED 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
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 28 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for TRUE COLORS UNITED 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 TRUE COLORS UNITED INC?
- TRUE COLORS UNITED INC (New York) receives grants from 104 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,617,568 to it, the largest being CONRAD N HILTON FOUNDATION ($3,687,400). 37 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does TRUE COLORS UNITED INC have?
- IRS filings report 104 organizations giving $10,617,568 in grants to TRUE COLORS UNITED INC, 37 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of TRUE COLORS UNITED INC?
- CONRAD N HILTON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,687,400 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like TRUE COLORS UNITED 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 True Colors United →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 104 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