Texas · Nonprofit
Writers in the Schools
Writers in the Schools (Texas) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,287,794 to it, the largest being HOUSTON ENDOWMENT INC ($914,700). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.6M
- Funders on record
- 43
- Grants received
- $4.3M
- Net assets
- $1.5M
What Writers in the Schools does
Mission
The mission of Writers in the Schools (WITS) is to connect children and youth with professional writers and spoken word artists to unlock the joy and power of storytelling and creative expression.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Education for Students - WITS students develop creative and analytical skills through school-based workshops, exposure to diverse texts, cultural field trips, and publication. By offering creative, digital, and performance writing to students, WITS provides a variety of entry points for learning that emphasizes the importance of practice, revision, and collaboration. A majority of students live in underserved communities and attend low-income schools.
$629,522 spentof which $7,800 as grants$323,917 earned by the program75% of program spendingCreative Writing Camps - WITS partners with schools and academic institutions to offer renowned creative writing camps that address summer learning loss, nurture the growth of the imagination, and ignite a love of learning. Tuition-based revenue generated from camp supports school-based programs throughout the year.
$199,897 spent$344,320 earned by the program24% of program spendingProfessional Development for Teachers and Writers - WITS fosters collaborative coaching and professional development for teachers aimed at transforming school ecosystems while inspiring literary cultures. Through its leadership of a national alliance, WITS promotes writers as teaching artists, providing resources, education, and connection to drive collective impact.
$13,465 spent2% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $842,884.
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 $2.8M to $2.0M (−30%).
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: 2018 3% · 2019 2% · 2020 4% · 2021 16% · 2022 3% · 2023 1% · 2024 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
45% of Writers in the Schools’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Giuseppe Taurino
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $364k → $402k.
6 of 43 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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 Writers in the Schools’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 43 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
Writers in the Schools has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 21% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
44% 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 Writers in the Schools.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 39% · 2019 21% · 2020 33% · 2021 17% · 2022 22% · 2023 25% — 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
48% of Writers in the Schools's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 47% 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
95% of Writers in the Schools's grant income comes from Texas funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $194k 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
Writers in the Schools runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 11,752 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,752 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding Writers in the Schools receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $360k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$360k
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 Writers in the Schools
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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
64% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
69%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Writers in the Schools: 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 Writers in the Schools?
- Writers in the Schools (Texas) receives grants from 43 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,287,794 to it, the largest being HOUSTON ENDOWMENT INC ($914,700). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Writers in the Schools have?
- IRS filings report 43 organizations giving $4,287,794 in grants to Writers in the Schools, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Writers in the Schools?
- HOUSTON ENDOWMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $914,700 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Writers in the Schools find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 Writers in the Schools →
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 43 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