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THE HIGHLAND PROJECT INC

NEW YORK, NY · EIN 854241927 · Form 990 · FY2025 · NTEE B60 · Education · Medium ($1M-$10M) · thehighlandproject.org
revenue
$8.3M
expenses
$4.3M
net assets
$8.9M
employees
2
volunteers
6
program ratio
87%
mission · from form 990

BUILD AND SUSTAIN A COALITION OF LEADERS IN COMMUNITIES, SYSTEMS AND INSTITUTIONS.

profile · synthesized from sources

The Highland Project is a New York-based organization building a coalition of values-aligned leaders focused on redefining wealth and multi-generational opportunity, with a central focus on Black women and under-invested communities. It combines leadership investment, community care, and research to advance structural change in education, economic empowerment, political agency, and well-being. The organization operates nationally and has committed over $6 million in capital since 2020.

named programs · 3 · from sources

What they call their work

Highland Leaders Initiative
Invests in frontline leaders driving structural reform in education, economic empowerment, political agency, and well-being, providing spaces for rest, reflection, and visionary planning.
Meet Me at the Highland
A gathering and community practice for dreamers, change-makers, and visionaries to cultivate sustained, collective leadership toward liberatory futures.
Research Practice
Generates intelligence on Black women’s views on wealth, economy, and democracy, centering their voices to redefine multi-generational opportunity and inform systemic change.
activities · 4 groups

What they do

  • Community Capacity Building & Leadership Networks 1 activity
    • Building and sustaining a coalition of community and institutional leaders
      Develops and maintains a network of leaders across communities, systems, and institutions, including the curation of over 60 Highland Leaders and allies since 2020.
  • Gender Equity Research and Advocacy 1 activity
    • Generating research on Black women's perspectives on wealth, economy, and democracy
      Produces one of the largest bodies of research centered on Black women’s views to redefine wealth and develop multi-generational solutions for economic and democratic systems.
  • Flexible Grants to Grassroots Organizations 1 activity
    • Providing funding and strategic support to frontline leaders for structural reform
      Seeds and invests in initiatives led by frontline leaders in education, economic empowerment, political agency, and well-being, including over $6M in capital since 2020, and offers spaces for rest, reflection, and visioning.
  • Uncategorized 1 activity
    • Operating a gathering space for change-makers and visionaries
      Runs "Meet Me at the Highland" as a physical and conceptual space for movement builders to convene, collaborate, and practice strategies for liberatory futures.
financials · form 990 · fy2025
revenue
Total revenue$8.34M
Contributions & grants$8.27M99%
Program service revenue$00%
Investment income$74K1%
Other revenue$0
expenses
Total expenses$4.29M
Program expenses87%
Admin / overhead11%
Fundraising1%
Salaries & benefits$617K
Grants paid out$1.80M
Largest expense lineProfessional Fees
balance sheet
Total assets$8.98M
Cash$1.22M
Investments$3.15M
Liabilities$80K
Net assets$8.90M
Liquid reserves12.2 mo
5 years on record · 2021–2025 · YoY revenue +246.1%
leadership · form 990 part vii · fy2025

Who runs it

paid leadership · 2
NameTitleHours/wkCompensation
GABRIELLE WYATT CEO 40 $362K
LORI TALIAFERRO RIDDICK SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT (UNTIL 9/25) 40 $215K
board members · 6
  • DARLENE NIPPER — BOARD MEMBER
  • JANICE TENNANT — BOARD MEMBER
  • JOANNA VISSER ADJOIAN — BOARD MEMBER
  • MARLON MARSHALL — SECRETARY
  • SHAWNA WELLS — BOARD PRESIDENT
  • SHERMAN WHITES — TREASURER
relationships · 1

Who they work with

  • Black women Partner — Central partners in co-creating a future of wealth and multi-generational opportunity.
strategies · 5

How they approach the work

Named approaches extracted from this org’s sources. Where others share an approach, follow it to see the full set of orgs running it.

  • Centering Black Women in Redefining Wealth
    methodology: centering-black-women
    By placing Black women, their voices, and their lived experiences at the core of research and solution design, we produce more accurate and transformative definitions of wealth and opportunity because they are the most proximate to systemic inequities and generative of liberatory alternatives.
  • Co-Powering Community Leadership
    methodology: co-powering
    By centering community leadership in decision-making and change efforts, we produce more equitable and sustainable futures because solutions emerge directly from those most impacted by systemic inequities.
  • Coalition Building for Collective Capacity
    methodology: coalition_building
    By convening leaders across communities, systems, and institutions, we drive systemic change because diverse stakeholders working collectively can align resources, influence policy, and scale impact beyond what isolated actors can achieve.
  • Community-Centered Design for Equitable Opportunity
    methodology: community-centered design
    By grounding programs and strategies in the dreams and needs of under-invested communities, we produce more relevant and effective pathways to equity because authentic community input leads to solutions that reflect real-world conditions and aspirations.
  • Leader Sustenance for Systemic Change
    methodology: leader-sustenance
    By prioritizing rest, reflection, and well-being for leaders, we sustain long-term leadership capacity and resilience because durable social change requires healthy, visionary individuals at the forefront.