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Center for Empowered Politics Education Fund at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Center for Empowered Politics Education Fund

Cepef operates as a grassroots, community based organization, promoting civic education and engagement, conducting research on the effects of policies on poverty and racial inequity, training and developing leaders for racial injustice, building capacity for community organizations, and empowering lowincome and working class communities…

$1.6M
Granted FY2024still arriving
30
Grants FY2024still arriving
11
States reached
$495k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through 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, FY2021 to 2024.

Health$833kCivil Rights$799kArts & Culture$605kPublic Benefit$353kCommunity Improvement$280kHuman Services$171kPhilanthropy$80kYouth Development$53kOther$0
02FY2024 · 30 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 30 grants below total $1,575,208, the rows itemized in this filing. The $1,614,707 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $39,499 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 · FY2024

  • Under $10k2 grants · $14k
  • $10k–50k18 grants · $349k
  • $50k–250k8 grants · $413k
  • $250k+2 grants · $798k
$20,000
Median grant
11
States reached
$31M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WATERING HOLE MEDIA ACTION$495,000
CHINESE PROGRESSIVE ASSOCIATION$303,379
CAIR-PHILADELPHIA$55,000
COMMUNITY AID AND DEVELOPMENT$55,000
ASIAN AMERICANS UNITED$53,000
HIGHLANDER RESEARCH AND EDUCATION CENTER$50,000
HOUSTON IN ACTION$50,000
STATE VOICES$50,000
STATE DEMOCRACY PROJECT$50,000
ASIAN AMERICANS ADVANCING JUSTICE - ATLANTA$50,000
NAKASEC$43,000
RAIZES COLLECTIVE$36,563
FREE MIGRATION PROJECT$36,000
CAMDEN FIREWORKS$33,085
INDEPENDENT ARTS & MEDIA$20,000
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 (FY22–24, $414k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 17% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%TIDES CENTER: $50k → 10%ASIAN AMERICANS ADVANCING JUSTICE - ATLANTA: $50k → 9%SUSU COMMUNITY FARM: $6k → 11%Race Forward: $89k → 10%INSTITUTE FOR ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN LEADERSHIP & ADVANCEMENT: $10k → 14%CAIR-PHILADELPHIA: $55k → 22%BLACK ORGANIZING PROJECT: $75k → 10%TIDES CENTER: $15k → 10%INADVANCE: $18k → 10%TIDES CENTER: $10k → 10%FILIPINO ADVOCATES FOR JUSTICE: $15k → 10%FILIPINO ADVOCATES FOR JUSTICE: $10k → 10%MUJERES UNIDAS Y ACTIVAS: $11k → 10%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

VT
IL
NY
MA
NV
PA
NJ
CA
AZ
TN
DC
GA
TX
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 9% of Center for Empowered Politics Education Fund’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 58% of the giving stays in CA; by stated purpose, 49%.

Center for Empowered Politics Education Fundlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 9.3% 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.

41%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.3M · 6 repeat orgs$1.9M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +58% since the first grant, against +41% for those funded once.

6 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2024, 2 since wound down; 25 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
10

Total granted

$1.3M
$685k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+58%
+41%

Still filing today

100%
90%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 24% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.2M went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesArts & CultureCivil RightsCommunity ImprovementHealthPublic 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

  • CHINESE PROGRESSIVE ASSOCIATION
    4× · 2021–2024 · $653k · revenue +26%
  • FA
    FILIPINO ADVOCATES FOR JUSTICE
    3× · 2022–2024 · $114k · revenue +58%
  • EB
    East Bay Alliance For A Sustainable Economy
    3× · 2022–2024 · $91k · revenue +79%

Funded once

  • Anti Police-Terror Project Incgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $225k · revenue +50%
  • RACE FORWARD
    one grant, 2023 · $179k · revenue -25%
  • TB
    The Black Organizing Project Inc
    one grant, 2022 · $75k · revenue -24%
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
Asian American Advocacy Alliance
Community Improvement
2
Asian Law Caucus

The Asian Law Caucus's mission is to promote, advance, and represent the legal and civil rights of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities, recognizing that social, economic, political and racial inequalities continue to exist…

Crime & Legal
3
Asians for Collective Action

Asians for Collective Action (ACA) harnesses the strenghts of Asians and Asian Americans to drive systemic change to create a just, healthy, and thriving community for all.

Public Benefit
4
Asian Immigrant Women Advocates Inc

Asian Immigrant Women Advocates empowers low-income, limited English speaking immigrant women and youth through education, leadership development and civic participation programs.

Human Services
5
Jobs with Justice San Francisco

A long-term, strategic alliance of labor, community, faith-based, and student organizations working together to build greater economic power for workers and community members through employee rights at work and access to good jobs,…

Employment
6
Alliance for Asian American Justice Inc

Coordinate pro bono legal aid for victims of anti-Asian violence.

Civil Rights
7
Asian AmericansPacific Islanders in Philanthropy Inc

AAPIP expands and mobilizes resources for AAPI communities to build a more just and equitable society.

Philanthropy
8
Caaav Voice Inc

CAAAV Voice is a grassroot organization aiming to empower Asian immigrant communities by organizing against gentrification, tenant rights and promote social justice.

—
9
South Asian Americans Leading Together

South Asian Americans Leading Together is a national movement strategy and advocacy organization committed to racial justice through structural change.

—
10
Asian Pacific Environmental Network

APEN builds immigrant and refugee power for a just transition with local roots and statewide impact so all people can live, work, learn, play and thrive in a clean and healthy environment.

Environment
11
Aapi Equity Alliance

Aapi equity alliance is a coalition of community-based organizations that advocates for the rights and needs of the asian and pacific islander (api) community in the greater los angeles area, with particular focus on low-income, immigrant,…

Human Services
12
Justice Action Center

Justice Action Center JAC pilots an innovative model that advances the rights of immigrant communities by connecting cutting-edge impact litigation and compelling narrative and communications content. The purpose of JAC is to advance the…

Civil Rights
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Chinese Progressive Association; the most unlike its peers is Cair-Pennsylvania. 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

38 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. 38 of the 42 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
38/38
Grantees still filing
14/38
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CHINESE PROGRESSIVE ASSOCIATION: $653,379 · HealthCHINESE PROGRESSIVE ASSOCIATIONWorking Partnerships USA: $345,000 · HealthWorking Partnerships USAWATERING HOLE MEDIA ACTION: $495,000 · Arts & CultureWATERING HOLE MEDIA A…Raizes Collective: $36,563 · Arts & CultureRaizes CollectiveCAMDEN FIREWORKS INCORPORATED: $33,085 · Arts & Culture+4 more: $60,732 · Arts & Culture+4 moreAnti Police-Terror Project Inc: $225,000 · Civil RightsAnti Police-Te…Houston in Action Network: $50,000 · Civil RightsHouston in Act…STATE VOICES: $50,000 · Civil RightsSTATE VOICESNATIONAL KOREAN AMERICAN SERVICE AND EDUCATION CONSORTIUM INC: $43,000 · Civil RightsNATIONAL KOREA…ONE ARIZONA: $27,000 · Civil RightsONE ARIZONACENTER FOR EMPOWERED POLITICS: $25,000 · Civil RightsCENTER FOR EMP…+1 more: $10,000 · Civil RightsFILIPINO ADVOCATES FOR JUSTICE: $114,218 · Human ServicesFILIPINO ADVOC…The Black Organizing Project Inc: $75,000 · Human ServicesThe Black Orga…TIDES CENTER: $75,000 · Human ServicesTIDES CENTERCAIR-PENNSYLVANIA: $55,000 · Human ServicesCAIR-PENNSYLVA…ASIAN AMERICANS ADVANCING JUSTICE ATLANTA INC: $50,000 · Human ServicesASIAN AMERICAN…INADVANCE: $18,000 · Human Services+3 more: $27,116 · Human Services+3 moreRACE FORWARD: $179,218 · Community ImprovementRACE FORW…MOVEMENT STRATEGY CENTER: $71,448 · Community ImprovementMOVEMENT …ASIAN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL: $27,000 · Community ImprovementASIAN COM…Community Aid and Development Corp: $55,000 · OtherCommunity Aid…TIDES ADVOCACY: $25,000 · OtherTIDES ADVOCAC…Core Commons: $20,030 · OtherFREE MIGRATION PROJECT: $69,000 · OtherFREE MIGRATIO…ASIAN AMERICANS UNITED INC: $53,000 · OtherASIAN AMERICA…HIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC: $50,000 · OtherHIGHLANDER RE…Causa Justa Just Cause: $47,500 · OtherCausa Justa J…Jubilee Gift Galaxy Inc: $20,000 · Other+4 more: $43,000 · Other+4 moreEast Bay Alliance For A Sustainable Economy: $91,333 · Public BenefitSTATE DEMOCRACY PROJECT: $50,000 · Public Benefit
Health$998,379Arts & Culture$625,380Civil Rights$430,000Human Services$414,334Community Improvement$277,666Other$382,530Public Benefit$141,333

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 budgetCHINESE PROGRESSIVE ASSOCIATION: $653,379 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetWATERING HOLE MEDIA ACTION: $495,000 over 1y, 29% of budgetWorking Partnerships USA: $345,000 over 3y, 2.2% of budgetAnti Police-Terror Project Inc: $225,000 over 1y, 8.4% of budgetRACE FORWARD: $179,218 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetFILIPINO ADVOCATES FOR JUSTICE: $114,218 over 3y, 4.5% of budgetEast Bay Alliance For A Sustainable Economy: $91,333 over 3y, 2.5% of budgetThe Black Organizing Project Inc: $75,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetTIDES CENTER: $75,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMOVEMENT STRATEGY CENTER: $71,448 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFREE MIGRATION PROJECT: $69,000 over 2y, 19% of budgetCAIR-PENNSYLVANIA: $55,000 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetCommunity Aid and Development Corp: $55,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetASIAN AMERICANS UNITED INC: $53,000 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetHouston in Action Network: $50,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetSTATE VOICES: $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetHIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetASIAN AMERICANS ADVANCING JUSTICE ATLANTA INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetSTATE DEMOCRACY PROJECT: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCausa Justa Just Cause: $47,500 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetNATIONAL KOREAN AMERICAN SERVICE AND EDUCATION CONSORTIUM INC: $43,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetRaizes Collective: $36,563 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetCAMDEN FIREWORKS INCORPORATED: $33,085 over 1y, 11% of budgetONE ARIZONA: $27,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetASIAN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL: $27,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTIDES ADVOCACY: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCENTER FOR EMPOWERED POLITICS: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetAL-BUSTAN SEEDS OF CULTURE: $20,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetIndependent Arts & Media: $20,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetJubilee Gift Galaxy Inc: $20,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetINADVANCE: $18,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetSonrisas Inc: $12,732 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetYWCA LANCASTER: $11,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMujeres Unidas y Activas: $10,750 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetChinese for Affirmative Action: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN LEADERSHIP AND ADVANCEMENT: $10,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetFILIPINO AMERICAN ASSOC OF PGH: $8,000 over 1y, 5.6% of budgetSUSU COMMUNITY FARM INC: $6,366 over 1y, 0.9% 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.

Amalgamated Charitabl…Tides FoundationNew Venture FundTides CenterMovement Strategy Cen…Marguerite Casey Foun…The San Francisco Fou…The California Endowm…East Bay Community Fo…Common Counsel Founda…Akonadi FoundationImpactassetsinc
Amalgamated Charitable Foundation IncDC33.4× affinity16 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Tides Foundation · New Venture Fund · Tides Center · Movement Strategy Center · Marguerite Casey Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · The California Endowment · East Bay Community Foundation · Common Counsel Foundation · Akonadi Foundation · Impactassetsinc

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%2%8%17%30%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 10%
  • Susu Community Farm Inc: 10% of income from government
  • Sonrisas Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
13report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Center for Empowered Politics Education Fund?

Find your warmest path to Center for Empowered Politics Education Fund 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 42 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

Play a game based on Center for Empowered Politics Education’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