Get Lit

What Get Lit does

Get Lit is a Los Angeles-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2006 that delivers spoken word poetry education programs to youth, with reported cumulative reach of more than 100,000 graduates. Its core offerings include school-based curricula (Words Ignite, Voices in Verse, Stanzas of America, Get Lit Essential), the Get Lit Players touring performance troupe, a Summer Intensive program, and ancillary creative-labs including Film Lab, Sound Lab, and Mixtape Masterclass. The organization recently added the Creative Career Lab, a workforce development program for ages 18-28 funded in part by California's Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) and CalCRG.

The organization's core technology platform is Uni(verse), a digital poetry hub featuring ScoreMetrics, described as a skills-based assessment tool that tracks literacy outcomes. The platform supports both in-school and after-school use and is positioned for global, geography-agnostic reach. Institutional credentials include UC-approved curriculum status, LAUSD Digital Content Provider approval, two Library of Congress Literacy Awards (2019 and 2024), and PBS documentary coverage.

Revenue is generated through foundation grants, corporate sponsorships, individual donations, and tuition from the Summer Intensive program, reported at $4,500 per student. Named major funders include the NBA Foundation, VANS, the Annenberg Foundation, California Community Foundation, Hearst, and LA County Arts & Culture. Institutional partners include Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), California GO-Biz, and the National Endowment for the Arts. The organization does not publicly disclose audited financials.

Name

Get Lit

Legal name

Get Lit - Words Ignite

Website

https://getlit.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Get Lit is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit founded in 2006 that delivers spoken word poetry education to youth through school curricula, performance troupes, summer intensives, and the Uni(verse) digital platform with ScoreMetrics assessment tools.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth Arts Education

NAICS

Fine Arts Schools (61161), Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Services (611)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Spoken Word & Performance Poetry Workshops (EDAMAMAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Poetry Workshops (EDAMAMAB), Spoken-Word Poetry Slams (MPAGACAF), STEM, Digital Literacy & Maker Education Nonprofits (BPAGADAG)

Keywords

• Youth poetry education
• Spoken word curriculum
• Arts education nonprofit
• Literacy programs
• Creative writing programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Foundation and Corporate Grants: Get Lit receives significant funding from foundations and corporate sponsors including NBA Foundation, VANS, Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, Annenberg Foundation, and numerous others listed in their Luminaries program at various donation tiers.
2. Individual Donations: The organization accepts donations at various levels, with the Luminaries program offering recognition tiers from $100 (Spark) to $100,000+ (Supernova).
3. Summer Intensive Program Fees: Tuition-based summer programs including Poetry & Performance at $4,500 per session with scholarships available. Film Lab and other intensive programs offered at various price points.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Get Lit is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that delivers spoken word poetry education to youth, combining in-school and community programs with a digital learning platform. It produces standards-aligned curricula, summer intensives, after-school and in-school workshops, a creative career pipeline, and a digital poetry platform (Uni(verse)) used by students and educators across the U.S.

Product overview

Get Lit - Words Ignite is a youth arts education nonprofit offering spoken word poetry, filmmaking, music, and screenwriting programs. The organization operates a multi-product portfolio including Uni(verse), a digital classroom platform (web-based educational technology); multiple curriculum products (Words Ignite, Voices in Verse, Stanzas of America, Get Lit Essential); and creative programs (Film Lab, Sound Lab, Mixtape Masterclass, Poetry Lab, Creative Career Lab, Drop-In Classes). The Get Lit Players is the award-winning youth performance troupe. Core programs are supplemented by annual events including Classic Slam and Poetic Convergence, and the multimedia production If I Awaken in Los Angeles. Programs target Southern California youth ages 13-28 with free or low-cost offerings.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Get Lit Players (GLPs): Award-winning performance troupe of youth poets ages 13-19 who have performed at venues including the White House, Lincoln Center, and Hollywood Bowl.
• Creative Career Lab
• Uni(verse)
• Voices in Verse
• Classic Slam
• If I Awaken in Los Angeles

Products and services

• Words Ignite Curriculum A standards-aligned spoken word poetry curriculum delivered to K-12 schools (notably LAUSD) and educators, providing lesson plans and instructional resources for classroom poetry and literacy instruction.

Quantifiable outcome

• 27% average increase in reading level during a single academic year (2016 cohort)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGet Lit's Voices in Verse is one of only 11 Ethnic Studies curricula approved by LAUSD. Uni(verse) has been approved as a LAUSD Digital Content Provider.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• WriteGirl: Los Angeles-based creative writing and mentoring nonprofit for teen girls, offering workshops, writing groups, and publication opportunities. Shares the LA geography and youth creative-writing focus with overlapping donor networks.
• Brave New Voices: International youth poetry slam festival and network originally incubated by Youth Speaks. Closely comparable as the signature youth spoken word competition platform and ecosystem.
• Urban Word NYC: New York City-based nonprofit providing spoken word poetry workshops, writing labs, and performance opportunities for youth. Operates a similar literary arts education + performance model in a different metro.
• Youth Speaks: Bay Area nonprofit founded by poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph running the Brave New Voices youth poetry slam and in-school spoken word curricula. Directly comparable mission, programmatic structure, and youth population served.
• 826 National: Network of youth writing centers offering creative writing tutoring, workshops, and publishing programs for K-12 students. Comparable as a nonprofit youth creative-writing provider with in-school and after-school delivery.

Emerging players

• The Moth: Storytelling and spoken word live-event platform with education programs. Comparable in spoken word performance culture but with a broader adult-leaning audience and different monetization model.
• Poetry Out Loud: National recitation program for high school students administered by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. Intersects with Get Lit on youth poetry engagement but emphasizes competition over original writing.

Broad incumbents

• First Book: Large nonprofit distributing books and educational resources to Title I schools and programs. A scaled incumbent addressing literacy through content distribution, sharing Get Lit's K-12 focus and funder overlap.
• National Writing Project: Larger, federally and foundation-funded network providing teacher professional development in writing instruction across the U.S. Represents the broader, scaled incumbent in the writing-education nonprofit space.
• Poetry Foundation: National literary organization publisher of Poetry Magazine and operator of poetry.org with broader programming and grants. A scaled incumbent in the poetry ecosystem, though less focused on K-12 in-school delivery.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/c/GetLitWordsIgnite
• Facebookfacebook.com/getlitpoet
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/get-lit---words-ignite
• Instagraminstagram.com/getlitpoet
• Xx.com/getlitpoet
• TikToktiktok.com/@getlitpoet

Compliance6 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Get Lit