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Center for American Progress Action Fund at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Center for American Progress Action Fund

The CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS ACTION FUND's (the action fund) mission is to impact the national debate and transform progressive ideas into policy through rapid response communications, public education, grassroots organization and advocacy in partnership with american citizens, executive and legislative branch policymakers and…

$4.8M
Granted FY2024still arriving
2
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$3.5M
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 2024.

Environment$11MPublic Benefit$4.1MEducation$418kCivil Rights$25kEmployment$10kSocial Science$5k
02FY2024 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 2 grants below total $4,500,000, the rows itemized in this filing. The $4,750,000 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $250,000 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.
$3,500,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$14M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NRDC ACTION FUND INC$3,500,000
NEXTGEN CLIMATE ACTION$1,000,000
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 (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 85% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%KEYSTONE RESEARCH: $5k → 12%NEXTGEN AMERICA: $1.3M → 10%FUND FOR A BETTER FUTURE INC: $1.4M → 12%NRDC ACTION FUND INC: $3.5M → 17%CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: $1.5M → 14%PROGRESS FLORIDA: $5k → 12%PROGRESS NOW EDUCATION: $75k → 16%ONE WISCONSIN: $5k → 10%PROGRESS OHIO: $8k → 15%BATTLE BORN PROGRESS: $5k → 13%NEXTGEN CLIMATE ACTION: $1.0M → 10%Care in Action PAC: $10k → 17%FIRST FIVE ACTION FUND: $400k → 14%CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: $242k → 14%CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: $202k → 14%CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: $196k → 14%CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: $131k → 14%America Works USA: $10k → 14%FELLOW AMERICANS: $110k → 14%LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS: $4.5M → 14%NORTH FUND: $250k → 14%LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS: $240k → 14%SIXTEEN THIRTY FUND: $30k → 14%HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN: $25k → 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

WI
MI
NY
NV
OH
PA
CA
DC
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

46%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$7.0M · 3 repeat orgs$8.3M to everyone else

3 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
14

Total granted

$7.0M
$3.8M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-28%
+12%

Still filing today

100%
79%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4.5M went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Civil RightsCommunity ImprovementEnvironmentEducationSocial SciencePublic BenefitOther
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

  • LO
    LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS INC
    2× · 2019–2020 · $4.7M · revenue +369%
  • CF
    CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS
    5× · 2017–2021 · $2.3M · revenue -28%
  • MC
    MoveOnorg Civic Action
    2× · 2020–2023 · $19k · revenue -38%

Funded once

  • FF
    FUND FOR A BETTER FUTURE INC
    one grant, 2021 · $1.4M · revenue -89%
  • NEXTGEN CLIMATE AMERICA INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $1.3M · revenue +141% · 43% of their budget
  • TP
    The Partnership Project Action Fundgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $500k · revenue +59%
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
Partnership for Policy Integrity

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

Environment
2
Environment Next Inc

Environment next supports individuals, nonprofits and businesses around the world on solutions to complex climate issues. we provide leadership, outreach and communication support, grants, and investments to empower leaders and their ideas…

Environment
3
CarbonPlan

Improving the transparency and scientific integrity of climate solutions through open data and tools.

Environment
4
Foreign Policy for America

Foreign Policy For America is a nonpartisan advocacy organization founded to strengthen support for principled American engagement in the world.

—
5
California Forward

Ca fwd drives action to identify solutions that can be taken to scale to meet the challenges the state is facing. the organization is driven by the belief that regional solutions across the state will help ensure economic, environmental,…

Public Benefit
6
E3G Third Generation Environmentalism

E3g is a leading international not-for-profit think tank specialising in climate diplomacy harnessing expertise in the politics and economics of climate change.

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
Friends of the Earth (Action) Inc

To improve the environment through education and policy work, with an emphasis on pollution, climate change, and energy issues; and how congress and the administration stand on these issues.

—
9
Fdd Action

FDD Action is a non-profit, non-partisan 504(c)4 organization established to advocate for effective policies to promote U.S. National Security and defend free nations.

Community Improvement
10
Coalition for Green Capital D/B/a American Green Bank Consortium

Cgc operates as a nonprofit financial institution that invests directly and through partners to transform financial markets by using public and private investing to accelerate the deployment of projects that strengthen the grid, reduce…

Environment
11
Progress Texas Institute

The Progress Texas Institute provides research and strategic communications on issues with the ultimate goal of increasing civic engagement.

Civil Rights
12
Greenlight Action

Greenlight action mobilizes grassroots power to get more clean energy projects built more quickly across the united states.

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Nrdc Action Fund Inc; the most unlike its peers is Progress Ohio Education 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

20 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. 20 of the 21 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/20
Grantees still filing
10/20
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS INC: $4,740,000 · Civil RightsLEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS INCCENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: $2,270,793 · Civil RightsCENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS+1 more: $25,000 · Civil RightsNRDC ACTION FUND INC: $3,500,000 · OtherNRDC ACTION FUND INCNEXTGEN CLIMATE ACTION: $1,000,000 · OtherNEXTGEN CLIMATE ACTION+6 more: $217,833 · OtherNEXTGEN CLIMATE AMERICA INC: $1,250,000 · EnvironmentNEXTGEN CLIM…The Partnership Project Action Fund: $500,000 · EnvironmentThe Partners…+1 more: $30,000 · EnvironmentFUND FOR A BETTER FUTURE INC: $1,388,021 · Community ImprovementFUND FOR A…+1 more: $5,333 · Community ImprovementFIRST FIVE ACTION FUND: $400,000 · EducationMoveOnorg Civic Action: $18,500 · EducationNORTH FUND: $250,000 · Public Benefit+1 more: $5,333 · Public BenefitKeystone Research Center Inc: $5,333 · Social Science
Civil Rights$7,035,793Other$4,717,833Environment$1,780,000Community Improvement$1,393,354Education$418,500Public Benefit$255,333Social Science$5,333

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 budgetLEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS INC: $4,740,000 over 2y, 5.8% of budgetNRDC ACTION FUND INC: $3,500,000 over 1y, 23% of budgetCENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: $2,270,793 over 5y, 3.0% of budgetFUND FOR A BETTER FUTURE INC: $1,388,021 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetNEXTGEN CLIMATE AMERICA INC: $1,250,000 over 1y, 43% of budgetNEXTGEN CLIMATE ACTION: $1,000,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetThe Partnership Project Action Fund: $500,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetNORTH FUND: $250,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetFELLOW AMERICANS: $110,000 over 1y, 27% of budgetPROGRESS NOW EDUCATION: $75,000 over 1y, 8.1% of budgetSIXTEEN THIRTY FUND: $30,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMoveOnorg Civic Action: $18,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetAMERICA WORKS USA: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetProgress Ohio Education Inc: $7,500 over 1y, 4.2% of budgetKeystone Research Center Inc: $5,333 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetONE WISCONSIN NOW INC: $5,333 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetBATTLE BORN PROGRESS: $5,333 over 1y, 2.6% 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.

Sixteen Thirty FundTides AdvocacyTides FoundationNew Venture FundGlobal Impact Social …Advocacy Action Fund …The Heising-Simons Ac…Way to Win Action Fun…Hopewell FundNEO Philanthropy Acti…NEO Philanthropy IncFuture Forward USA Ac…
Sixteen Thirty FundDC23.5× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Sixteen Thirty Fund · Tides Advocacy · Tides Foundation · New Venture Fund · Global Impact Social Welfare Fund · Advocacy Action Fund Inc · The Heising-Simons Action Fund · Way to Win Action Fund Inc · Hopewell Fund · NEO Philanthropy Action Fund Inc · NEO Philanthropy Inc · Future Forward USA Action

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 Center for American Progress Action Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Center for American Progress Action Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
    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 21 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

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    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