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Cato Institute at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Cato Institute

The mission of the CATO INSTITUTE is to keep the principles, ideas, and moral case for liberty alive for future generations, while moving public policy in the direction of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace.

$136k
Granted FY2026still arriving
4
Grants FY2026still arriving
4
States reached
$66k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$325kCrime & Legal$250kEducation$216kYouth Development$140kPublic Benefit$121kSocial Science$105kReligion$60kHuman Services$50kOther$0
02FY2026 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 4 grants below total $106,000, the rows itemized in this filing. The $136,000 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $30,000 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2026

  • $10k–50k3 grants · $40k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $66k
$20,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$214M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AMERICA'S FUTURE FOUNDATION$66,000
AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL$20,000
YOUNG AMERICANS FOR LIBERTY INC$10,000
ROOTS OF PROGRESS$10,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY22–26, $310k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 81% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%ROOTS OF PROGRESS: $50k → 8%ROOTS OF PROGRESS: $10k → 8%The Innocence Project Inc: $250k → 20%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

MI
NY
MA
OR
IN
PA
VA
MD
DC
TX
FL
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 19% of Cato Institute’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Cato Institutelessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 19% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

58%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$815k · 10 repeat orgs$596k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +46% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

10 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2026, 6 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
7

Total granted

$815k
$596k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+46%
0%

Still filing today

100%
86%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2026, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25’26
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25’26
Public BenefitHuman ServicesReligionArts & CultureYouth DevelopmentSocial ScienceOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • FT
    FREE TO CHOOSE NETWORK INC
    2× · 2017–2018 · $155k · revenue +13%
  • TB
    THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION
    4× · 2020–2024 · $85k · revenue +46%
  • YC
    YORK COLLEGE OF PENNSYLVANIA
    2× · 2023–2024 · $83k · revenue +7%

Funded once

  • TI
    THE INNOCENCE PROJECT INC
    one grant, 2022 · $250k · revenue -12%
  • CA
    Cuban American National Foundation Inc
    one grant, 2019 · $250k · revenue -47%
  • LF
    Liberty Fund Incgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $28k · revenue +90%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its 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
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

The american enterprise institute is a community of scholars and supporters committed to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity, and strengthening free enterprise. aei pursues these ideals through independent thinking and the…

Social Science
2
Open Markets Institute

The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.

Education
3
Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Inc

The manhattan institute is a community of scholars, journalists, activists, and civic leaders dedicated to advancing opportunity, individual liberty, and the rule of law in america and its great cities.

Public Benefit
4
Cato Institute

The mission of the cato institute is to keep the principles, ideas, and moral case for liberty alive for future generations, while moving public policy in the direction of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace.

Public Benefit
5
The Fund for American Studies

The fund for american studies (tfas) seeks to create a brighter, more prosperous future by preparing young people for leadership and teaching them the ideas of freedom and a free-market economy. founded in 1967, tfas organizes programs for…

—
6
The International Institute for Strategic Studies - Us

To provide accurate, objective information and analysis on international strategic issues for legislators, diplomats, foreign affairs analysts, international business leaders, economists, the military, defense commentators, journalists,…

International
7
American Law Institute

The institute's mission, as set out in its certificate of incorporation, is to promote the clarification and simplification of the law and its better adaptation to social needs, to secure the better administration of justice, and to…

Crime & Legal
8
Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty

The mission of the acton institute is to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles.

Civil Rights
9
Intercollegiate Studies Institute Inc

We inspire college students to discover, embrace, and advance the principles that make america good, free, and prosperous.

Education
10
Council On Foreign Relations Inc

The council on foreign relations (cfr) is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher dedicated to being a resource for its members, government officials, business executives, journalists, educators and…

International
11
Foreign Policy Research Institute

The foreign policy research institute (frpi) is dedicated to producing the highest quality scholarship and nonpartisan policy analysis focused on crucial foreign policy and national security challenges facing the united states. we educate…

International
12
Frontiers of Freedom Institute

To educate the public on constitutional issues and public policy matters. We are dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, peace through strength, limited government, free enterprise, and the values embodied in the Declaration of…

Public Benefit
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Young Americans for Liberty Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Brookings Institution. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

18 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 18 of the 19 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/18
Grantees still filing
12/18
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Cuban American National Foundation Inc: $250,000 · Arts & CultureCuban American National Foundat…FREE TO CHOOSE NETWORK INC: $155,000 · Arts & CultureFREE TO CHOOSE NETWORK INCTHE INNOCENCE PROJECT INC: $250,000 · Human ServicesTHE INNOCENCE PROJECT IN…THE ROOTS OF PROGRESS: $60,000 · Human ServicesTHE ROOTS OF PROGRESSAmerica's Future Foundation: $190,500 · Youth DevelopmentAmerica's Future…YOUNG AMERICANS FOR LIBERTY INC: $25,000 · Youth DevelopmentYOUNG AMERICANS …YORK COLLEGE OF PENNSYLVANIA: $82,500 · EducationYORK COLLEGE…STUDENTS FOR LIBERTY INC: $53,800 · EducationSTUDENTS FOR…THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $23,386 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES…AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL: $81,000 · Public BenefitYOUNG AMERICANS FOR LIBERTY FOUNDATION: $22,000 · Public BenefitINTERNET EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $10,000 · Public BenefitTHE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: $85,000 · Social ScienceAMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMIC RESEARCH: $20,000 · Social ScienceMORAL COURAGE PROJECT F/K/A PROJECT IJTIHAD: $60,000 · ReligionTHE ONE AMERICA MOVEMENT: $12,500 · ReligionLiberty Fund Inc: $28,494 · OtherCENTER FOR CIVIL SOCIETY: $25,000 · OtherDonors Trust Inc: $7,500 · Other
Arts & Culture$405,000Human Services$310,000Youth Development$215,500Education$159,686Public Benefit$113,000Social Science$105,000Religion$72,500Other$60,994

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 budgetTHE INNOCENCE PROJECT INC: $250,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetCuban American National Foundation Inc: $250,000 over 1y, 24% of budgetAmerica's Future Foundation: $190,500 over 5y, 4.8% of budgetFREE TO CHOOSE NETWORK INC: $155,000 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetTHE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: $85,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetYORK COLLEGE OF PENNSYLVANIA: $82,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL: $81,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetMORAL COURAGE PROJECT F/K/A PROJECT IJTIHAD: $60,000 over 2y, 4.5% of budgetSTUDENTS FOR LIBERTY INC: $53,800 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetLiberty Fund Inc: $28,494 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $23,386 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMIC RESEARCH: $20,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE ONE AMERICA MOVEMENT: $12,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetINTERNET EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.7% 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.

Donors Trust IncCharles Koch InstituteThe Seminar Network I…Triad Foundation IncCharles Koch Foundati…JP Humphreys Foundati…The Armstrong Foundat…Atlas Economic Resear…John Templeton Founda…Vanguard Charitable E…National Philanthropi…Morgan Stanley Global…
Donors Trust IncVA17.4× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Donors Trust Inc · Charles Koch Institute · The Seminar Network Inc · Triad Foundation Inc · Charles Koch Foundation · JP Humphreys Foundation · The Armstrong Foundation · Atlas Economic Research Foundation · John Templeton Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc

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 Cato Institute funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Cato Institute. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    4get no government money at all
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
    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.

    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 19 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 2026, released 2026. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Cato Institute’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