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VERY ASIAN FOUNDATION

EIN 87-4516826 ST LOUIS, MO

Revenue 2024
$151,774
Expenses 2024
$147,859

Program services were 80.0% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

As filed

Subsection
03
NTEE code
T30
Classification
2000
Street
4818 WASHINGTON BLVD 20

These codes are the IRS's own and are shown exactly as filed. What each one means is in the Business Master File documentation (opens in a new tab).

Mission and programs · 2024

Mission

THE VERY ASIAN FOUNDATION'S MISSION IS TO SHINE A LIGHT ON ASIAN EXPERIENCES THROUGH ADVOCACY AND CELEBRATION.

  • THE VERY ASIAN FOUNDATION'S MISSION IS TO SHINE A LIGHT ON ASIAN EXPERIENCES THROUGH ADVOCACY AND CELEBRATION. THE ORGANIZATION ACCOMPLISHES THIS BY RAISING MONEY FOR ASIAN AMERICAN, NATIVE HAWAIIAN, AND PACIFIC ISLANDER (AANHPI) GROUPS AND ISSUES, AMPLIFYING STORIES AND EXPERIENCES, PROVIDING EDUCATION AND TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH ACROSS THE COUNTRY, AND HOSTING COMMUNITY BUILDING EVENTS SUCH AS FILM SCREENINGS, PANEL DISCUSSIONS, AND COMMUNITY MIXERS THAT FOSTER PRODUCTIVE DIALOGUE AND PROMOTE CULTURAL AWARENESS, UNDERSTANDING, AND APPRECIATION.

    Expenses $66,077 · Grants $16,436

  • THE MAY BOOK PROJECT IS AN ASIAN AMERICAN YOUTH GUIDE FOR ALL READERS THAT LAUNCHED IN MAY 2022. INSPIRED BY STUDENT'S CALLS FOR GREATER ASIAN AMERICAN, NATIVE HAWAIIAN, AND PACIFIC ISLANDER (AANHPI) REPRESENTATION IN THE MADE BOOKS AVAILABLE TO THEM, THE MAY BOOK PROJECT PROVIDES A FREE TOOLKIT, RESOURCE GUIDE, AND BOOKLIST OF ABOUT 280 BOOKS OF HIGH-QUALITY, VETTED ASIAN AMERICAN LITERATURE. THE VERY ASIAN FOUNDATION THEN GIVES FREE BOOKS TO AT-NEED LIBRARIES. VAF HAS WORKED WITH LIBRARIES IN ATLANTA, CHICAGO, HENDERSON, NC, LOS ANGELES, MILWAUKEE, NEW YORK, SEATTLE, ST. LOUIS, AND ST. PAUL AND HAS HUNDREDS OF REQUESTS IN QUEUE. IT'S BEEN EMBRACED IN EACH STATE BECAUSE THIS PROJECT EMPHASIZES CHOICE AND CELEBRATION.

    Expenses $43,616 · Grants $1,500

  • THE VERY ASIAN CREATORS FUND AIMS TO PROVIDE FINANCIAL SUPPORT AND MENTORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES TO ASIAN AMERICAN, NATIVE HAWAIIAN, AND PACIFIC ISLANDER (AANHPI) INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE MAKING A CAREER PIVOT INTO A CREATIVE FIELD AND PROVIDE A LAUNCHPAD TO ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS AND MAKE AN IMPACT IN THEIR COMMUNITIES AND SOCIETY. THE VERY ASIAN CREATORS FUND ALSO INCLUDES THE IDEA THAT, BY AMPLIFYING THE VOICES, STORIES, AND PERSPECTIVES OF AANHPI CREATIVES AND BY PROVIDING A PLATFORM FOR THEM TO SHARE THEIR WORK, THIS GRANT PROGRAM CAN HELP CHANGE THE REPRESENTATION AND NARRATIVES IN THE CREATIVE INDUSTRY, BY PROVIDING A SPACE FOR MORE DIVERSE AND UNDERREPRESENTED VOICES AND PERSPECTIVES TO BE VISIBLE. BY PROVIDING MENTORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES, THE ORGANIZATION HOPES TO ALSO HELP DEMYSTIFY THE CAREER PIVOT PROCESS AND DEBUNK MYTHS HINDERING INDIVIDUALS IN PURSUIT OF THEIR CREATIVE CAREERS, BY PROVIDING REAL-LIFE EXAMPLES OF INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE GONE THROUGH THE PROCESS AND MADE IT. THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THIS PROGRAM IS TO EMPOWER AANHPI INDIVIDUALS TO MAKE A SUCCESSFUL TRANSITION INTO A CREATIVE CAREER AND TO PROMOTE REPRESENTATION AND DIVERSE NARRATIVES IN THE CREATIVE INDUSTRY, WHICH WILL HAVE A RIPPLE EFFECT ON THE COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY AS A WHOLE.

    Expenses $8,528 · Grants $7,428

As filed on the 2024 return. The filer continues this part on Schedule O, which is not shown here.

Officers and directors · 2024

As listed in Part VII of the 2024 return, in the order the filer printed them. Each return names its own; this is not a roster the organization keeps with us.

  • LEI DENG

    TREASURER

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2.5

  • MICHELLE VAN DILLEN

    CO-PRESIDENT

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    25

  • SOOGI HONG

    EXECUTIVE DI

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    40

  • ALEX LEE

    SECRETARY

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2.5

  • STEPHEN LENIVY

    VICE-PRESIDE

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2.5

  • KAT LIEU

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2.5

  • CHRIS NGUYEN

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2.5

  • CLAIRE NIPPER

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    5

  • DANNY POON

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2.5

  • MICHELLE RIGELL

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    5

  • GIA VANG

    CO-PRESIDENT

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    15

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. Earlier years are each on their own filing page.

Filings

  • 2024
    Revenue
    $151,774
    Expenses
    $147,859
    Contributions
    $150,171
    Grants paid
    $25,364
  • 2023
    Revenue
    $200,826
    Expenses
    $197,032
    Contributions
    $220,017
    Grants paid
    $11,711
  • 2022
    Revenue
    $210,755
    Expenses
    $104,749
    Contributions
    $168,401
    Grants paid
    $2,808

The four totals the IRS asks for on Part I of the Form 990, as filed. A dash means the figure was not present on the return — not that it was zero.

Other returns filed

  • 2024 · 990-T

    Revenue
    not reported
    Expenses
    not reported
    Assets (EOY)
    not reported

  • 2023 · 990-T

    Revenue
    not reported
    Expenses
    not reported
    Assets (EOY)
    not reported

Nonprofiteer parses Forms 990, 990-EZ and 990-PF, in a window of recent tax years. These returns are recorded from the IRS e-file index, so their figures were extracted by that index rather than read from the return here — treat them as a different source from the filings above, not as more of the same record. A dash means the index carries no figure; Form 990-T listings carry none at all.

Grants made

Where these grants went next →

Grants received

Other IRS files

Auto-Revocation List

Not listed. The IRS publishes this list for organizations whose exemption was automatically revoked for failing to file for three consecutive years.

Publication 78

Listed as of 13 October 2026, under deductibility PC.

These are two separate IRS files on two separate schedules, shown as published and not reconciled with each other. Neither is a statement about whether a contribution is deductible today: 19,245 organizations appear in Publication 78 while the IRS's own revocation file lists them as currently revoked, more than half of those revoked before 2019. Absence from Publication 78 is evidence of nothing, and presence is not evidence either. Verify current status with the IRS before relying on it.

What this page reflects

The registration facts above come from the IRS Business Master File published 13 October 2026 and read 26 October 2026, for every organization at once. Returns through tax year 2024, the newest we have parsed for this organization.