New York · Nonprofit
URBAN WORD NYC INC
URBAN WORD NYC INC (New York) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,654,196 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,056,062). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $677k
- Funders on record
- 33
- Grants received
- $2.7M
- Net assets
- $829k
What Urban Word NYC Inc does
Mission
The mission of urban word nyc (the organization) champions and elevates young, marginalized voices as leaders at the intersection of literary arts and civic engagement. Through the transformative power of the written and spoken word, urban word equips youth with the tools, training, and platforms to rewrite the narratives that shape their lives and communities. As one of the nation's oldest and most comprehensive youth literary arts organizations, urban word leads both local and national programs including the national youth poet laureate program, cultivating a network of poets, civically engaged leaders, and educators dedicated to empowering the next generation of creative changemakers.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Providing platforms for critical literacy, youth development and leadership through free and uncensored writing, college preparation and performance opportunities. Workshops are student-centered environments where young writers can experiment, explore and eventually perform their work. Performances help teens annually with free writing and performanceopportunities that engage educational, vocational, artistic and performance development with various competitions and open mic nights.urban word holds various training programs that aim to examine critical issues affecting todays youth, while providing creative and practical resources to address them.
$931,896 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $931,896.
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 2021 to 2022, from $728k to $1.8M (+141%).
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 1% · 2019 2% · 2020 15% · 2021 22% · 2022 14% · 2023 14% · 2024 27% · 2025 37%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
79% of URBAN WORD NYC INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Melisha Jackman
Executive director
Board chair
Eric Adisa
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $268k → $273k.
6 of 33 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 49% 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 URBAN WORD NYC INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 33 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
URBAN WORD NYC INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 40% 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
62% 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 URBAN WORD NYC INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 37% · 2018 47% · 2019 44% · 2020 30% · 2021 89% · 2022 38% · 2023 24% — 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
36% of URBAN WORD NYC INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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
63% of URBAN WORD NYC INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
URBAN WORD NYC INC is better cushioned than half of the 16,849 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 16,849 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding URBAN WORD NYC INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $207k on record — $205k federal, $3k state.
- Department of State$125k
- National Endowment for the Arts$80k
- Membership Dues$3k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like URBAN WORD NYC 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
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
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 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for URBAN WORD NYC 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 URBAN WORD NYC INC?
- URBAN WORD NYC INC (New York) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,654,196 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,056,062). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does URBAN WORD NYC INC have?
- IRS filings report 33 organizations giving $2,654,196 in grants to URBAN WORD NYC INC, 19 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of URBAN WORD NYC INC?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $1,056,062 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like URBAN WORD NYC 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 Urban Word NYC →
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 33 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