New York · Nonprofit
WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS SAY
WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS SAY (New York) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $36,525 to it, the largest being TRUST UA WYMAN-POTTER FOUNDATION 14-217670 ($15,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $75k
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $37k
- Net assets
- $12k
What What Will the Neighbors Say does
Mission
What Will the Neighbors Say? is an investigative theatre company that provokes questions through untold stories. Led by a collaborative cohort of international artists, the Neighbors present overlooked social, cultural and historical narratives that challenge the audience to reflect on the current moment. Through a combination of original plays, arts education workshops and dynamic community gatherings, the troupe incites rowdy and rigorous debate at the theatre and throughout the Neighborhood.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Programs
New to the Neighborhood is a residency program intended to be an incubator for Brooklyn-based emerging artists from underrepresented communities. Specifically, we curate residents who are female, trans, and non-binary artists of the Global Majority. We selected these specific groups as they have historically been underserved by the American theater industry, and this residency aims to help redress that imbalance. The inaugural New to the Neighborhood Residency is made possible with funds from the Howard Gilman Foundation, administered by the Brooklyn Arts Council as well as additional support from IndieSpace and the offices of City Counselor C.M. Hudson and State Senator Julia Salazar.
$11,000 spentof which $11,000 as grants17% of program spendingAT THE BARRICADES is a new experimental documentary theater play that examines the international volunteers who traveled to Spain between 1936-1939 to fight against Fascism in the Spanish Civil War. Inspired by true stories of those who traveled to Spain in 1937 to join the anti-Facist forces as a framing, this play explores the integrated Lincoln Battalion to unpack the nature of resistance and solidarity. This unit fought alongside a range of foreign comrades in Spain in an international crusade against authoritarianism.
$50,729 spentof which $37,500 as grants81% of program spendingEstablished in 2017, storytime is a free night of storytelling and live music for the Neighborhood, held at various venues throughout New York. Each event features a specific theme (such as Uplifting Black Stories, Not A Day Goes By, Waiting) curated by the visiting musicians (including Eleri Ward, Kathryn Allison and Amyra León) and hosts (including Abby Feldman, Xavier Reyes and Ayla Sullivan). Any audience member who is willing to tell a story is welcome to, creating an authentic and powerful collective experience. This event has so far served over 3500 folks in the New York and online, and was recently recognized with a $15k NYC Department of Cultural Affairs CDF Grant. Most recently, storytime was part of the Six Foot Platform in DUMBO. Previous venues include: the cell theatre, Industry City Distillery and Starr Bar.
$1,250 spentof which $1,250 as grants2% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $62,979.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2023, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2023, 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 2023 to 2024, from $6k to $13k (+138%).
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.
66% of WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS SAY’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (78% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 3 reported years ran a deficit.
Leadership and staff
Board chair
Thalia Romina
Chair of the Board
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $6k → $24.
1 of 6 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 WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS SAY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 5 of 6 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
WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS SAY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 97%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
56% 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 WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS SAY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 98% · 2023 100% — 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 WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS SAY'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. $79 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.
Against its field
WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS SAY has grown faster than three-quarters of the 10,242 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 10,242 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Government funding WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS SAY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $25k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$25k
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 WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS SAY
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.
Public support
93%
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 WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS SAY: 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 WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS SAY?
- WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS SAY (New York) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $36,525 to it, the largest being TRUST UA WYMAN-POTTER FOUNDATION 14-217670 ($15,000). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS SAY have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $36,525 in grants to WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS SAY, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS SAY?
- TRUST UA WYMAN-POTTER FOUNDATION 14-217670 is the largest funder on record, with $15,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS SAY 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 What Will the Neighbors Say →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2023–2025), and the filings of 6 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