Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
UPTURN INC
UPTURN INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,760,000 to it, the largest being THE FORD FOUNDATION ($8,520,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.2M
- Funders on record
- 10
- Grants received
- $14M
- Net assets
- $6.0M
What Upturn Inc does
Mission
Upturn advances equity and justice in the design, governance, and use of technology.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Upturn believes technology should advance justice, not amplify racial and economic inequities. We drive policy change through rigorous research, legal and policy advocacy, and timely collaborations. We work across disciplines, bringing computer science, quantitative, and legal and policy expertise to bear on the most pressing civil rights challenges. We seek out partnerships with local and national advocates, litigators, academics, and others to ensure our work is responsive, informed, and grounded. Our program areas include criminal justice reform, equal employment, fair housing, fair credit, and building a strong social safety net. (continued on schedule o)in each area, we investigate specific applications of technology and automation that may harm historically underprivileged communities. We believe that it takes proactive attention to make sure that technology - and those who build and use it - serves society fairly. Without care, technology can reinforce inequitable systems found everywhere in our society. We produce independent, proactive research to clarify and frame our priority issues for key stakeholders, through public reports, legal and regulatory filings, technical…
$1,992,238 spent$2,000 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,992,238.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2017 to 2018, from $987k to $3.8M (+283%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 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
Harlan Yu
President & executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $725k → $1.6M.
1 of 10 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 UPTURN 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
UPTURN INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 62% of grant income and the top three 83%; 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 100% · 2018 70% · 2019 61% · 2020 41% · 2021 32% · 2022 81% · 2023 64% — 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
25% of UPTURN 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
UPTURN INC draws 86% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 7 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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.
Organizations like UPTURN 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 Washington, D.C.
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
18%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 5 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for UPTURN 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 UPTURN INC?
- UPTURN INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 10 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,760,000 to it, the largest being THE FORD FOUNDATION ($8,520,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does UPTURN INC have?
- IRS filings report 10 organizations giving $13,760,000 in grants to UPTURN INC, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UPTURN INC?
- THE FORD FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $8,520,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UPTURN INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 Upturn →
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 10 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