Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
Zora Neale Hurston Richard Wright Foundation
Zora Neale Hurston Richard Wright Foundation (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $190,516 to it, the largest being HUMANITIES COUNCIL OF WASHINGTON DC ($69,855). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $338k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $191k
- Net assets
- $22k
What Zora Neale Hurston Richard Wright Foundation does
Mission
The mission of the Hurston Wright Foundation is to mentor discover and honor Black writers providing community and professional development through culturally relevant services support and opportunities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2025 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.
Ceased for 2025 the Writer-in-Residence program
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
Hurston Wright writing competitions honor literacy excellency by published and unpublished writers. The Legacy Awards celebrates the best books by Black authors in the United States and around the globe. Panels of award-winning authors serve as judges to select nominees finalists and winners in each category. The Award for College Writers recognizes excellence by Black College students in fiction and poetry. The Crossover Award which debuted in 2020 honors original voices in literary nonfiction
$113,485 spentof which $22,050 as grants$44,783 earned by the program54% of program spendingThe Hurston Wright Foundation provides summer workshops virtual courses and master talks to serve emerging and midcareer adult writers in the genres of fiction nonfiction screenwriting playwriting and poetry. In addition we curate diverse literary panels that include participation from literary agents editors and publishers who share their expertise on navigating the publishing business. The foundation also facilitates literacy and humanities-based programming for parents educators and youth.
$97,223 spent46% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $210,708.
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 2019 to 2020, from $101k to $210k (+108%).
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: 2019 20% · 2020 43% · 2022 30% · 2025 45%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
87% of Zora Neale Hurston Richard Wright Foundation’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (84% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 6 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
Nichelle M Hayes
Executive Director
Board chair
Cynthia Landrum
Interim Board Chair
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 $10k → $25k.
3 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% 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 Zora Neale Hurston Richard Wright Foundation’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
Zora Neale Hurston Richard Wright Foundation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% of grant income and the top three 92%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
63% 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 Zora Neale Hurston Richard Wright Foundation.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 49% · 2022 56% · 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
52% of Zora Neale Hurston Richard Wright Foundation's grant income comes from Washington, D.C. funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $56k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
Zora Neale Hurston Richard Wright Foundation has grown faster than half of the 1,934 public benefit nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,934 public benefit nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding Zora Neale Hurston Richard Wright Foundation receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $180k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$180k
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 Zora Neale Hurston Richard Wright Foundation
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
62% 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 Zora Neale Hurston Richard Wright Foundation: 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 Zora Neale Hurston Richard Wright Foundation?
- Zora Neale Hurston Richard Wright Foundation (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $190,516 to it, the largest being HUMANITIES COUNCIL OF WASHINGTON DC ($69,855). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Zora Neale Hurston Richard Wright Foundation have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $190,516 in grants to Zora Neale Hurston Richard Wright Foundation, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Zora Neale Hurston Richard Wright Foundation?
- HUMANITIES COUNCIL OF WASHINGTON DC is the largest funder on record, with $69,855 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Zora Neale Hurston Richard Wright Foundation 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 Zora Neale Hurston Richard Wright →
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 5 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