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Americans for Financial Reform at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Americans for Financial Reform

To lay the foundation for a strong, stable, and ethical financial system.

$100k
Granted FY2023
1
Grants FY2023
1
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2023.

Public Benefit$127kCivil Rights$109kCommunity Improvement$17kEducation$15kHousing & Shelter$10kCrime & Legal$5k
02FY2023 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$100,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Demand Progress Education Fund$100,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY18–23) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 44% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 12%MHAction at The Advocacy Fund: $23k → 10%New York Communities Organizing Fu: $5k → 20%Wisconsin Public Interest Research: $10k → 10%Tennessee Citizen Action: $7k → 14%New Georgia Project: $10k → 14%Hoosier Action: $7k → 18%WV Center on Budget & Policy: $8k → 18%Action Center on Race and the Econ: $56k → 14%Citizen Action of New Jersey: $7k → 16%Demand Progress Education Fund: $100k → 8%Maine Street Solutions: $10k → 7%Woodstock Institute: $5k → 14%Maine Peoples Alliance: $7k → 7%Peoples Action dba MOP: $11k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

ME
IL
WI
NY
IN
NJ
CA
WV
MD
TN
AL
GA
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
New Jersey Citizen Action Education Fund Inc

Promotes empowerment of low and middle income people through research, education, and training around public policy issues and direct counseling services.

Public Benefit
2
New Jersey Policy Perspective

New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP) is a nonpartisan think tank that drives policy change to advance economic, social, and racial justice through evidence-based, independent research, analysis, and strategic communications.

Arts & Culture
3
People's Independent Commission

Supports Measure to Remove Lawmakers Power to Set Their Own Pay

—
4
Institute for Public Accuracy

To teach and disseminate educational materials to the public.

Arts & Culture
5
People's Action Institute

The mission of people's action institute is to advance a long-term agenda for racial, economic and gender justice by investing in powerful state and local organizations and campaigns that win real change in people's lives

Community Improvement
6
Partnership for Policy Integrity

Partnership for Policy Integrity (PFPI) uses data-driven advocacy and litigation to fight for forests, communities and the climate.

Environment
7
Bipartisan Policy Center Inc

To drive principled solutions through rigorous analysis, reasoned negotiation, and respectful dialogue. to actively promote bipartisanship and work to address the key challenges facing the nation including energy and infrastructure,…

Public Benefit
8
New Georgia Project Action Fund

New georgia project action find is on a mission to increase the civic participation of the new georgia majority and other historically marginalized communities by building grassroots political power in support of progressive leaders,…

—
9
Powerswitch Action

Powerswitch action is a national network forging collective democracy and economies in our cities and states, together with our 21 grassroots affiliates.

Community Improvement
10
Iowa Citizen Action Network

To promote social, economic and environmental justice.

—
11
Community Justice Project

To provide high quality civil legal assistance and other services to indigent individuals and families.

Crime & Legal
12
The Alliance for Collective Action

The Alliance for Collective Action convenes leaders of environmental and social movements to advance solutions for a thriving planet. We advance our mission through the Alliance Center building and community, as well as through Collective…

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Demand Progress Education Fund; the most unlike its peers is Hoosier Action Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

14 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 14 of the 16 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
14/14
Grantees still filing
8/14
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

DEMAND PROGRESS EDUCATION FUND: $100,000 · Civil RightsDEMAND PROGRESS EDUCATION FUNDAction Center on Race & the Economy Institute: $56,250 · Civil RightsAction Center on Race & the Economy InstituteNEW GEORGIA PROJECT INC: $10,000 · Civil RightsNEW GEORGIA PROJECT INCTIDES ADVOCACY: $22,500 · OtherTIDES ADVOCACYMaine Street Solutions: $10,000 · OtherMaine Street Solutio…NEW JERSEY CITIZEN ACTION: $7,100 · OtherNEW JERSEY CITIZEN A…TENNESSEE CITIZEN ACTION ALLIANCE: $6,500 · OtherTENNESSEE CITIZEN AC…Woodstock Institute: $5,000 · OtherWoodstock InstituteVETERANS EDUCATION SUCCESS INC: $15,000 · Public BenefitVETERANS EDUCA…WISCONSIN PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP INC: $9,500 · Public BenefitWISCONSIN PUBL…WEST VIRGINIA CENTER ON BUDGET AND POLICY INC: $7,500 · Public BenefitWEST VIRGINIA …ALABAMA APPLESEED CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE INC: $5,000 · Public BenefitALABAMA APPLES…PEOPLE'S ACTION: $10,500 · Community ImprovementPEOPLE'S AC…HOOSIER ACTION INC: $6,500 · Community ImprovementHOOSIER ACT…MAINE PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE: $6,500 · Community ImprovementMAINE PEOPL…New York Communities Organizing Fund Inc: $5,000 · Community ImprovementNew York Co…
Civil Rights$166,250Other$51,100Public Benefit$37,000Community Improvement$28,500

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetDEMAND PROGRESS EDUCATION FUND: $100,000 over 1y, 5.5% of budgetAction Center on Race & the Economy Institute: $56,250 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetTIDES ADVOCACY: $22,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetVETERANS EDUCATION SUCCESS INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetPEOPLE'S ACTION: $10,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNEW GEORGIA PROJECT INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWISCONSIN PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP INC: $9,500 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetWEST VIRGINIA CENTER ON BUDGET AND POLICY INC: $7,500 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetNEW JERSEY CITIZEN ACTION: $7,100 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetHOOSIER ACTION INC: $6,500 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetMAINE PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE: $6,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetWoodstock Institute: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetNew York Communities Organizing Fund Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Americans for Financi…New Venture FundSixteen Thirty FundTides FoundationPeople's ActionFidelity Investments …
Americans for Financial Reform Education FundDC22.1× affinity8 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund · New Venture Fund · Sixteen Thirty Fund · Tides Foundation · People's Action · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Americans for Financial Reform funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Americans for Financial Reform. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 37%
  • New Jersey Citizen Action: 37% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
04Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Americans for Financial Reform?

Find your warmest path to Americans for Financial Reform through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 16 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2023, the most recent year this funder made grants.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Americans for Financial Reform’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home