Private foundation (trust)EIN 362490808Est. 1946-11
THE POETRY FOUNDATION
CHICAGO, IL 60654
Accepts unsolicited proposalsTotal Assets
$299.3M
FY 2023
Annual Giving
$3.5M
FY 2023
Grants Made
163
FY 2023
Avg Grant
$22K
FY 2023
Grant Range
$200–$110K
Typical
Deadlines
Guidelines and deadlines are available…
Applications
Programs & Activities
Program 1
$4.2MThe poetry foundation offers an array of free programs,events and awards to amplify poetry, celebrate poets, and foster spaces for all to create, experience, and share poetry. Events include an option to connect virtually, welcoming 2,061 attendees in-person and 1,064 virtual to 28 events in 2023. The library hosted 12 book clubs and 104 writing workshops, engaging 1,718 participants. Additionally, the foundation had a presence at two offsite partner events: one poem, one chicago and the words of wonder literary festival. The poetry foundation also co-led the summer poetry teachers institute, during which 104 educators experienced two days of invigorating performances, breakout sessions, and virtual panels led by 20 poets; and poetry out loud, a national poetry recitation competition for high school students. In 2023, poetry out loud engaged 159,830 students from 1,447 schools and organizations across every state and several territories.
Program 2
$1.3MPoetryfoundation.org is the largest free online archive of poetry, with 47,122 poems as of 2023. It also hosts a full digital archive of poetry magazine, author bios, poem guides, audio poems, content for educators, and more. Weekly updates include new poetry collections, book reviews, podcasts, and blogs. The website averaged 4.56 million monthly visitors throughout 2023. Newsletters went out to 106,000 subscribers, including 65,767 of whom receive poem of the day daily; and podcasts garnered more than 1.9 million listeners.
Program 3
$3.1MPoetry magazine celebrated its 111-year anniversary in 2023; it remains the oldest monthly devoted to verse in the english-speaking world. Poetry concluded its guest editor program with charif shanahan, who edited three issues in 2023. Poetry received 20,439 submission packets, paid $414,000 to poets, donated 13,000 issues to community organizations, building visitors, and event attendees; and brought poetry to 23,150 print subscribers and 33,000 poetry magazine app users. The magazine continues to prioritize discovering and providing a platform for emerging poets, publishing 126 first-time contributors, which is 50% of the poets published in 2023. The full digital archive of poetry magazine is available to users for free via poetryfoundation.org.
Focus Areas
Financial Snapshot
2023 filing
Total Revenue
$7.6M
Total Expenses
$18.6M
Qualifying Distributions
$16.4M
Distributable Amount
$13.4M
Min. Investment Return
$13.6M
Payout rate
Qualifying distributions as a share of distributable amount.
Grant Range
163 grants
Logarithmic scale — typical grant portfolios span orders of magnitude, so distances are proportional to multiplicative change, not dollar gaps.
Giving Over Time
2 years
Total dollars recorded per filing year. Scale adjusts to the foundation's range.
Top Recipients
500 grants
Grant Size Distribution
500 grants
Geographic Focus
55 states
+45 more states
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