Totals
- Total revenue
- $2,017,745
- Total expenses
- $2,878,224
- Contributions and grants received
- $1,929,476
- Grants paid
- $662,949
- Program service revenue
- $56,474
- Investment income
- $21,183
- Other revenue
- $10,612
- Total assets, end of year
- $4,177,120
- Total liabilities, end of year
- $233,917
- Net assets or fund balances, end of year
- $3,943,203
- Program services expenses (Part IX)
- $2,476,917
- Management and general expenses
- $300,753
- Fundraising expenses
- $100,554
- Program service expenses (Part III)
- $2,476,917
Program services were 86.1% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.
Line items
Every line the filer filed in Parts VIII, IX and X, as filed and in filed order. Blank columns are left out, and the lines are not forced to add up to the totals above.
Revenue
Part VIII, the statement of revenue.
-
1f · All other contributions, gifts and grants
$1,929,476
-
2a · Program service revenue: Consulting contracts
total $13,041 · related or exempt $13,041
-
2b · Program service revenue: Training and event fees
total $43,433 · related or exempt $43,433
-
3 · Investment income
total $21,183 · excluded $21,183
-
4 · Income from investment of tax-exempt bond proceeds
total $0
-
5 · Royalties
total $0
-
6d · Net rental income or loss
total $0
-
7d · Net gain or loss
total $0
-
8c · Net income from fundraising events
total $0
-
9c · Net income from gaming
total $0
-
10c · Net income from sales of inventory
total $0
-
11a · Other revenue: MISCELLANEOUS
total $10,612 · related or exempt $10,612
-
11e · Other revenue, total
$10,612
Functional expenses
Part IX, the statement of functional expenses.
-
1 · Grants to domestic organizations and governments
total $662,949 · program services $662,949
-
2 · Grants to domestic individuals
total $0
-
3 · Grants to foreign organizations and individuals
total $0
-
4 · Benefits paid to or for members
total $0
-
5 · Compensation of officers, directors and key employees
total $179,655 · program services $142,497 · management and general $25,193 · fundraising $11,965
-
6 · Compensation of disqualified persons
total $0
-
7 · Other salaries and wages
total $843,852 · program services $669,318 · management and general $118,335 · fundraising $56,199
-
8 · Pension plan contributions
total $0
-
9 · Other employee benefits
total $73,852 · program services $59,577 · management and general $8,924 · fundraising $5,351
-
10 · Payroll taxes
total $79,166 · program services $71,618 · management and general $1,000 · fundraising $6,548
-
11a · Fees: management
total $65,060 · program services $56,878 · management and general $6,444 · fundraising $1,738
-
11b · Fees: legal
total $14,887 · management and general $14,887
-
11c · Fees: accounting
total $60,224 · program services $2,300 · management and general $57,924
-
11d · Fees: lobbying
total $0
-
11e · Fees: professional fundraising services
total $0
-
11f · Fees: investment management
total $0
-
11g · Fees: other
total $236,060 · program services $204,231 · management and general $24,898 · fundraising $6,931
-
12 · Advertising and promotion
total $0
-
13 · Office expenses
total $2,705 · program services $1,266 · management and general $1,378 · fundraising $61
-
14 · Information technology
total $24,440 · program services $20,036 · management and general $2,841 · fundraising $1,563
-
15 · Royalties
total $0
-
16 · Occupancy
total $28,889 · program services $23,215 · management and general $3,702 · fundraising $1,972
-
17 · Travel
total $103,140 · program services $100,490 · management and general $2,473 · fundraising $177
-
18 · Travel or entertainment for public officials
total $0
-
19 · Conferences, conventions and meetings
total $62,796 · program services $49,209 · management and general $9,876 · fundraising $3,711
-
20 · Interest
total $1,965 · management and general $1,965
-
21 · Payments to affiliates
total $0
-
22 · Depreciation, depletion and amortization
total $0
-
23 · Insurance
total $11,964 · program services $8,142 · management and general $3,072 · fundraising $750
-
24a · Other expenses: Program associates
total $232,005 · program services $232,005
-
24b · Other expenses: Faciltators and trainers
total $114,388 · program services $114,388
-
24c · Other expenses: Payroll Processing Fees
total $27,436 · program services $19,287 · management and general $6,359 · fundraising $1,790
-
24d · Other expenses: Dues and subscriptions
total $26,923 · program services $18,050 · management and general $8,147 · fundraising $726
-
24e · All other expenses
total $25,868 · program services $21,461 · management and general $3,335 · fundraising $1,072
Balance sheet
Part X, book values.
-
1 · Cash, non-interest-bearing
beginning of year $1,726,900 · end of year $1,855,383
-
2 · Savings and temporary cash investments
beginning of year $975,774 · end of year $993,417
-
3 · Pledges and grants receivable
beginning of year $2,552,648 · end of year $1,255,407
-
4 · Accounts receivable
end of year $0
-
5 · Loans and receivables from officers and key people
end of year $0
-
6 · Loans and receivables from disqualified persons
end of year $0
-
7 · Other notes and loans receivable
end of year $0
-
8 · Inventories for sale or use
end of year $0
-
9 · Prepaid expenses and deferred charges
beginning of year $7,954 · end of year $20,196
-
10c · Land, buildings and equipment, net
end of year $0
-
11 · Investments: publicly traded securities
end of year $0
-
12 · Investments: other securities
end of year $0
-
13 · Investments: program-related
end of year $0
-
14 · Intangible assets
end of year $0
-
15 · Other assets
beginning of year $45,917 · end of year $52,717
-
17 · Accounts payable and accrued expenses
beginning of year $231,713 · end of year $176,786
-
19 · Deferred revenue
end of year $11,000
-
25 · Other liabilities
beginning of year $77,691 · end of year $46,131
-
27 · Net assets without donor restrictions
beginning of year $3,122,289 · end of year $2,291,083
-
28 · Net assets with donor restrictions
beginning of year $1,877,500 · end of year $1,652,120
Mission and programs · 2024
Mission
SMARTMEME INC. DBA CENTER FOR STORY-BASED STRATEGY ("CSS") IS A NATIONAL STRATEGY CENTER DEDICATED TO HARNESSING THE POWER OF NARRATIVE FOR MOVEMENT BUILDING AND SOCIAL CHANGE. CSS PROVIDES SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND ECOLOGICAL JUSTICE LEADERS, ORGANIZATIONS AND ALLIANCES THE STRATEGIC SUPPORT TO REFRAME ISSUES AND WIN CRITICAL CAMPAIGNS. WE USE STORY-BASED APPROACHES TO AMPLIFY THE IMPACT OF GRASSROOTS ORGANIZING, TO COMMUNICATE TRANSFORMATIVE POSSIBILITIES AND TO RE-IMAGINE SOCIAL CHANGE STRATEGY. THROUGH TRAINING AND CONSULTING, WEVE SUPPORTED OVER 300 NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS AND 6,000 INDIVIDUAL CHANGE AGENTS.
Activities or mission (Part I)
SMARTMEME, INC. DBA CENTER FOR STORY-BASED STRATEGY (CSS) CULTIVATES IMAGINATION SPACES WHERE STORY, GRASSROOTS LEADERSHIP, ORGANIZING, AND DEMOCRACY ARE INTERWOVEN STRATEGIES TO BUILD POWER.
-
Public Trainings: CSS hosted multiple introductory training sessions to equip organizations with Story-Based Strategy (SBS) methods and support them in building long-term capacity for narrative strategy. Additionally, CSS planned a four-day, in-person training session, set for October 2025, bringing together 30 participants from different organizations.
Expenses $2,476,917 · Grants $662,949 · Revenue $56,474
-
Partnerships: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: CSS brought together a one-year cohort alongside Frameworks to shift mindsets around care while addressing individualism and deservingness. The cohort also aimed to convene collaborative learning spaces throughout the year to foster co-creation, relationship-building, and shared learning across six different organizations and build their capacity for narrative strategy.
-
Partnerships: Healthy & Safe Schools: In the second year of a two-year initiative, CSS implemented a structured, multi-phase framework designed to support a cohort of organizations in the adoption and application of SBS methodologies. This initiative facilitated the development of a cohesive meta-narrative and integrated long-term communication strategies to strengthen campaign effectiveness and advance community capacity of participating organizations working to promote and grow healthy schools.
-
Partnerships (Custom): Throughout the year, we support a variety of community-based organizations and collaborative initiatives by training groups in SBS tools to strengthen leadership, capacity, and facilitate effective planning and decision-making processes. Through partnerships, workshops, strategy sessions, and technical assistance, we help organizations utilize narrative strategy to develop shared visions, align goals, and enhance accountability to the communities they serve. .
-
RWJF: Developed curriculum and underlying structure for a 1-year cohort program with six organizations on narrative strategy & shifting mindsets. TCE Healthy & Safe Schools: Continued to provide cohort trainings, individualized coaching, in-person convenings and conducted new field research through partnering with Frameshift Public Trainings: Successfully completed 4 annual Intro Trainings and planned our annual 5-day Advanced Training (held in October 2025) while implementing new tools and innovating the 5-day structure to find new best practices.Custom Trainings: Deepened partnership and provided custom coaching with several collaborating organizations including the Southwest Organizing Project, Rogue Climate and over 20 EPA grantees. Network: Continued to hold spaces to build a network of SBS practitioners and began planning a new network gathering called Radical Imagination Retreat to run in 2026.
As filed on the 2024 return. The filer continues this part on Schedule O, which is not shown here.
Listed in Part VII
-
Nayantara Sen
Executive Dir.
- Total calculated
- $155,929
- From this org
- $155,929
- From related orgs
- $0
- Other
- $0
- Hours/week
- 32
Schedule J breakdown matched by us
- Base
- $155,929
- Bonus
- not reported
- Other
- not reported
- Deferred
- not reported
- Nontaxable benefits
- not reported
- Filer's total
- $155,929
-
Reuben Tihi Hayslett
Interim ED
- Total calculated
- $47,086
- From this org
- $47,086
- From related orgs
- $0
- Other
- $0
- Hours/week
- 2
-
Jamila Brown
Vice President
- Total calculated
- $41,700
- From this org
- $41,700
- From related orgs
- $0
- Other
- $0
- Hours/week
- 2
-
Angus Maguire
President
- Total calculated
- $0
- Hours/week
- 2
-
Seng So
Secretary
- Total calculated
- $0
- Hours/week
- 2
-
Iva Torres
Treasurer
- Total calculated
- $0
- Hours/week
- 2
-
Kedar Reddy
Board Member
- Total calculated
- $0
- Hours/week
- 2
-
Rachel Weidinger
Board Member
- Total calculated
- $0
- Hours/week
- 2
Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. A Schedule J breakdown is as filed: base pay, bonus, other, deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits from this organization, with any from related organizations beside each, and the filer's own total. It is shown with the Part VII listing of the same name on the same return. The form gives no key between the two, so that pairing is ours, and is marked matched by us.
Schedule J
Answered yes
- 3 · Written employment contract
- 3 · Approval by the board or compensation committee
Answered no
- 4a · Severance or change-of-control payment
- 4b · Supplemental nonqualified retirement plan
- 4c · Equity-based compensation arrangement
- 5a · Pay contingent on this organization's revenues
- 5b · Pay contingent on a related organization's revenues
- 6a · Pay contingent on this organization's net earnings
- 6b · Pay contingent on a related organization's net earnings
- 7 · Other non-fixed payments
- 8 · Paid under the initial-contract exception
Part I's answers as filed. A line not listed was left unanswered; on lines 1a and 3 that means the box was not checked.
Grants on this return
-
$437,949
Re-grants
-
$60,000
Re-grants
-
$60,000
Re-grants
-
$35,000
Re-grants
-
$35,000
Re-grants
-
$35,000
Re-grants
Provenance
- Return type
- form_990
- Tax year
- 2024
- Filed
- 11 June 2026
- IRS schema version
- 2024v5.2
- Source object
- 202641629349301719
Check it against the return as filed: the GivingTuesday Data Lake hosts a public copy of the original XML.
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