Massachusetts · Nonprofit
TRUE COSTS INITIATIVE INC
TRUE COSTS INITIATIVE INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,765,000 to it, the largest being Boston Foundation Inc ($5,690,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.3M
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $5.8M
- Net assets
- $309k
What True Costs Initiative Inc does
Mission
True costs initiative (tci) seeks to increase corporate accountability and to strengthen legal systems in the global south by driving collaboration among communities, funders, and creative leaders in an effort to tip the balance so corporations are held accountable for and internalize the true environmental and human costs of their actions.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Tci provided recommendations for funding 70 ngos which advance corporate accountability and the rule of law. Tci facilitated collaboration between grantee partners, funders, and community experts on three occasions to support grantee partners in expanding their funder base. Tci provided consultations to grantee partners on 12 occasions. Tci supported eight science and law fellows in fellowship programs with host ngos. The organization published articles and engaged in 24 speaking events with funders, academics, community organizers, and students. Tci continued to work with other ngo's to develop training and educational programs and learning agendas; increased the capacity of these ngos by mentoring; and provided vulnerable communites with access to legal and technical tools and knowledge infrastructure.
$935,424 spentof which $13,300 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $935,424.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $188k to $59k (−69%).
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.
100% of TRUE COSTS INITIATIVE INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (97% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Conniel Malek
Executive director
Board chair
Hashim Bello
Board chair/director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $150k → $1.3M.
3 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% 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 COSTS INITIATIVE 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
TRUE COSTS INITIATIVE INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 99% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 COSTS INITIATIVE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 98% · 2023 99% — broadly stable.
“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
100% of TRUE COSTS INITIATIVE INC's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $25k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Massachusetts, across 1 state.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.7M 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
TRUE COSTS INITIATIVE INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 718 international nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 718 international nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like TRUE COSTS INITIATIVE 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
75% 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
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for TRUE COSTS INITIATIVE 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 COSTS INITIATIVE INC?
- TRUE COSTS INITIATIVE INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,765,000 to it, the largest being Boston Foundation Inc ($5,690,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does TRUE COSTS INITIATIVE INC have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $5,765,000 in grants to TRUE COSTS INITIATIVE INC, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of TRUE COSTS INITIATIVE INC?
- Boston Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $5,690,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like TRUE COSTS INITIATIVE 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 4 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