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· Public charity

Charles Koch Institute

Inspired by a recognition that free people are capable of extraordinary things, stand together fellowships supports educational programs and dialogue to advance these principles, challenge convention, and eliminate barriers that stifle creativity and progress.

$1.2M
Granted FY2022
33
Grants FY2022
17
States reached
$300k
Largest
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.

Education$48MPublic Benefit$14MCrime & Legal$11MInternational$7.2MCivil Rights$6.1MHuman Services$2.4MEnvironment$1.8MArts & Culture$1.8MOther$0
02FY2022 · 33 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 33 grants below total $769,323, the rows itemized in this filing. The $1,217,943 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $448,620 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 · FY2022

  • Under $10k21 grants · $167k
  • $10k–50k10 grants · $202k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $100k
  • $250k+1 grant · $300k
$8,000
Median grant
17
States reached
$446M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
The Poynter Institute for Media Studies Inc$300,000
Talent Market$100,000
Cato Institute$47,375
Texas Tribune$24,000
Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft$21,592
Defense Priorities Foundation$21,000
Center for the National Interest$20,092
Nevada News Bureau Inc$16,000
Street Sense Inc$15,677
Eurasia Group Foundation$12,531
TechFreedom$12,000
John Quincy Adams Society$11,656
The 74 Media Inc$8,000
Chicago Public Media Inc$8,000
Reason Foundation$8,000
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 (FY20–22, $5.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 95% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Future of Storytelling for Good Inc: $300k → 17%Roots of Progress: $250k → 8%Safe Families for Children Alliance: $8k → 14%College Bound Dorchester: $12k → 16%Edward Charles Foundation: $1.3M → 14%Edward Charles Foundation: $1.1M → 14%More in Common: $250k → 17%Defense Priorities Foundation: $1.5M → 14%College Bound Dorchester Inc: $12k → 16%More in Common: $75k → 17%College Bound Dorchester Inc: $8k → 16%Defense Priorities Foundation: $45k → 14%Defense Priorities Foundation: $21k → 14%Street Sense Inc: $16k → 14%Street Sense Inc: $8k → 14%Center for Civilians in Conflict: $91k → 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
WA
ID
MT
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
WY
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
KY
WV
VA
MD
AZ
KS
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
OK
LA
MS
GA
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

81%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$77M · 117 repeat orgs$18M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +48% since the first grant, against +17% for those funded once.

117 repeat relationships: 25 still active in FY2022, 92 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2022 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

117
117

Total granted

$77M
$18M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+48%
+17%

Still filing today

95%
92%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2022, 90% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $80k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22
EducationPublic BenefitArts & CultureInternationalCrime & LegalCivil RightsOther
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

  • CI
    CATO INSTITUTE
    6× · 2017–2022 · $4.4M · revenue +70%
  • TR
    THE REASON FOUNDATION
    6× · 2017–2022 · $2.8M · revenue +80%
  • BO
    Bill of Rights Institute
    3× · 2017–2021 · $2.5M · revenue +248%

Funded once

  • SP
    SUMMIT PUBLIC SCHOOLS
    one grant, 2020 · $1.6M · revenue -11%
  • OB
    ON BEING PROJECT
    one grant, 2020 · $1.0M · revenue -61%
  • NI
    NATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM
    one grant, 2020 · $810k · revenue -23%
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
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
2
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
3
Institute for Public Accuracy

To teach and disseminate educational materials to the public.

Arts & Culture
4
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
5
Pew Research Center

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan "fact tank" that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. Pew Research Center generates a foundation of facts that enriches the public dialogue and…

Social Science
6
International Republican Institute

Iri advances freedom and democracy worldwide by developing political parties, civic institutions, open elections, democratic governance and the rule of law.

Education
7
American Press Institute Inc

American press institute acts as a scout on the frontier of technology and audience behavior to identify where change is occurring and helps news organizations learn how to implement and scale that change successfully so they have a…

Arts & Culture
8
Center for American Progress

The center for american progress (cap) is an independent nonpartisan policy institute that is dedicated to improving the lives of all americans through bold, progressive ideas, as well as strong leadership and concerted action. our aim is…

Civil Rights
9
National Institute for Public Policy Inc

The institute works as a public education organization that focuses on a wide spectrum of rapidly evolving foreign policy and international issues.

—
10
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
11
Institute for Strategic Dialogue-Us

Isd-us is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to defending democracy and individual rights against threats to public safety and national security. isd-us is at the forefront of analyzing and innovating solutions…

Education
12
Future Tech Insights Inc

The organization provides public education on artificial intelligence.

Public Benefit
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Heritage Foundation; the most unlike its peers is The Media Project. 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

240 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. 240 of the 245 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.

22
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
64
Early backer (in before they grew)
230/240
Grantees still filing
170/240
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

4point0 Schools: $3,750,000 · Education4point0 SchoolsTHE REASON FOUNDATION: $2,829,369 · EducationTHE REASON FOUNDATIONMINERVA UNIVERSITY: $1,890,000 · EducationMINERVA UNIVERSITYSUMMIT PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $1,640,000 · EducationSUMMIT PUBLIC SCHOOLSEdChoice Inc: $1,600,000 · EducationEdChoice IncBELLWETHER EDUCATION PARTNERS INC: $1,500,000 · EducationBELLWETHER EDUCATION PA…THE POYNTER INSTITUTE FOR MEDIA STUDIES INC: $1,224,000 · EducationTHE POYNTER INSTITUTE F…R STREET INSTITUTE: $986,786 · EducationCAPITAL PREPARATORY SCHOOLS INC: $800,000 · EducationThe Trustees of Princeton University: $750,000 · Education+23 more: $3,572,289 · Education+23 moreCATO INSTITUTE: $4,403,750 · Public BenefitCATO INSTITUTETEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION: $2,055,175 · Public BenefitTEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FO…INTERNATIONAL POLICY NETWORK US INC: $1,297,000 · Public BenefitINTERNATIONAL POLICY N…The Rand Corporation: $1,210,000 · Public BenefitThe Rand CorporationBARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH: $1,154,000 · Public BenefitBARRY GOLDWATER INSTIT…ON BEING PROJECT: $1,000,000 · Public BenefitCENTER FOR THE NATIONAL INTEREST: $934,135 · Public BenefitMACKINAC CENTER: $857,500 · Public BenefitPROPERTY AND ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH CENTER: $850,000 · Public BenefitAMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL: $654,000 · Public Benefit+21 more: $5,014,340 · Public Benefit+21 moreRECIDIVIZ INC: $4,453,000 · OtherRECIDIVIZ INCBill of Rights Institute: $2,516,000 · OtherBill of Rights InstituteTel Foundation: $2,101,890 · OtherTel FoundationTHE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES: $2,000,000 · OtherTHE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUB…TURNAROUND FOR CHILDREN INC: $1,662,706 · OtherNew Civil Liberties Alliance: $2,016,000 · OtherNew Civil Liberties AllianceNATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER: $1,151,000 · OtherROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC: $2,300,000 · OtherROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INCQUINCY INSTITUTE FOR RESPONSIBLE STATECRAFT: $1,235,184 · Other+72 more: $13,573,077 · Other+72 moreATLANTIC COUNCIL OF THE UNITED STATES INC: $1,905,000 · InternationalATLANTIC …INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: $1,600,000 · InternationalINTERNATI…CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: $1,163,000 · InternationalCARNEGIE …THE EURASIA FOUNDATION: $1,150,000 · InternationalTHE EURAS…TECHNOLOGY POLICY INSTITUTE: $760,000 · InternationalTECHNOLOG…+15 more: $1,716,148 · International+15 morePacific Legal Foundation: $2,054,481 · Crime & LegalNACDL FOUNDATION FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE: $816,000 · Crime & LegalCOUNCIL ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE INC: $785,000 · Crime & LegalTHE FAIRNESS CENTER INC: $475,000 · Crime & LegalLITIGATORS FOR LIBERTY NETWORK: $425,000 · Crime & LegalIMMIGRANTS LIKE US INC: $350,000 · Crime & LegalPRISON FELLOWSHIP MINISTRIES: $268,000 · Crime & LegalTAKING ACTION FOR GOOD: $256,000 · Crime & LegalWISCONSIN INSTITUTE FOR LAW & LIBERTY: $200,000 · Crime & Legal+5 more: $319,367 · Crime & LegalEDWARD CHARLES FOUNDATION: $2,450,000 · Human ServicesDefense Priorities Foundation: $1,587,000 · Human ServicesMORE IN COMMON INC: $325,000 · Human ServicesFOST FOR GOOD INC: $300,000 · Human ServicesTHE ROOTS OF PROGRESS: $250,000 · Human Services+4 more: $296,293 · Human ServicesFOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC: $2,181,000 · Civil RightsActon Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty: $536,526 · Civil RightsCENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY: $328,000 · Civil RightsIndependent Women's Forum: $303,000 · Civil RightsALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM: $275,000 · Civil RightsMeasures for Justice Institute: $250,000 · Civil RightsPHOENIX CENTER FOR ADVANCED LEGAL & ECONOMIC PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES INC: $240,000 · Civil RightsANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: $225,000 · Civil Rights+4 more: $268,044 · Civil Rights
Education$20,542,444Public Benefit$19,429,900Other$33,008,857International$8,294,148Crime & Legal$5,948,848Human Services$5,208,293Civil Rights$4,606,570

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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 budgetRECIDIVIZ INC: $4,453,000 over 2y, 48% of budgetCATO INSTITUTE: $4,403,750 over 6y, 6.7% of budget4point0 Schools: $3,750,000 over 2y, 40% of budgetTHE REASON FOUNDATION: $2,829,369 over 6y, 9.0% of budgetBill of Rights Institute: $2,516,000 over 3y, 22% of budgetEDWARD CHARLES FOUNDATION: $2,450,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC: $2,300,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC: $2,181,000 over 2y, 10% of budgetTel Foundation: $2,101,890 over 2y, 47% of budgetTEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION: $2,055,175 over 4y, 7.2% of budgetPacific Legal Foundation: $2,054,481 over 4y, 6.2% of budgetNew Civil Liberties Alliance: $2,016,000 over 2y, 28% of budgetTHE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES: $2,000,000 over 2y, 5.3% of budgetATLANTIC COUNCIL OF THE UNITED STATES INC: $1,905,000 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetMINERVA UNIVERSITY: $1,890,000 over 2y, 3.0% of budgetTURNAROUND FOR CHILDREN INC: $1,662,706 over 2y, 11% of budgetSUMMIT PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $1,640,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetEdChoice Inc: $1,600,000 over 2y, 9.9% of budgetINTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: $1,600,000 over 2y, 3.5% of budgetDefense Priorities Foundation: $1,587,000 over 3y, 3.6% of budgetBELLWETHER EDUCATION PARTNERS INC: $1,500,000 over 2y, 5.4% of budgetINTERNATIONAL POLICY NETWORK US INC: $1,297,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetQUINCY INSTITUTE FOR RESPONSIBLE STATECRAFT: $1,235,184 over 3y, 16% of budgetTHE POYNTER INSTITUTE FOR MEDIA STUDIES INC: $1,224,000 over 3y, 4.3% of budgetThe Rand Corporation: $1,210,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetCARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: $1,163,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetBARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH: $1,154,000 over 5y, 11% of budgetNATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER: $1,151,000 over 2y, 4.4% of budgetTHE EURASIA FOUNDATION: $1,150,000 over 2y, 4.4% of budgetON BEING PROJECT: $1,000,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetR STREET INSTITUTE: $986,786 over 6y, 3.9% of budgetCENTER FOR THE NATIONAL INTEREST: $934,135 over 3y, 21% of budgetMACKINAC CENTER: $857,500 over 3y, 5.0% of budgetPROPERTY AND ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH CENTER: $850,000 over 2y, 20% of budgetNACDL FOUNDATION FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE: $816,000 over 3y, 17% of budgetNATIONAL IMMIGRATION FORUM: $810,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetCAPITAL PREPARATORY SCHOOLS INC: $800,000 over 1y, 21% of budgetCOUNCIL ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE INC: $785,000 over 2y, 14% of budgetTECHNOLOGY POLICY INSTITUTE: $760,000 over 2y, 33% of budgetThe Trustees of Princeton University: $750,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL: $654,000 over 5y, 6.9% of budgetTHE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $632,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetNATIONAL TAXPAYERS UNION FOUNDATION: $614,000 over 3y, 16% of budgetTHE MANUFACTURING INSTITUTE: $600,000 over 1y, 5.1% of budgetTHE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE: $564,651 over 3y, 18% of budgetHOME BUILDERS INSTITUTE: $550,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetSCHOOLHOUSEWORLD INC: $550,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR FREE SPEECH: $538,000 over 3y, 8.3% 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.

Charles Koch FoundationVA153.1× affinity80 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Charles Koch Foundation · The Seminar Network Inc · Donors Trust Inc · The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc · Adolph Coors Foundation · Atlas Economic Research Foundation · Carnegie Corporation of New York · Sarah Scaife Foundation Incorporated · Bradley Impact Fund Inc · State Policy Network · John William Pope Foundation · The Roe Foundation

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 160%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • World Relief Corp of National Association of Evangelicals: 67% of income from government
  • Uncornered Inc: 24% of income from government
  • Thread Inc: 12% of income from government
  • The Trustees of Princeton University: 11% of income from government
  • Northeastern University: 7% of income from government
  • The Poynter Institute for Media Studies Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
16get no government money at all
20report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
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 245 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 2022, released 2022. 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 $663k of grant expense, but none of it to a named recipient. On a Form 990 that can mean grants abroad, filed by region only (Schedule F), grants under $5,000, which are not itemized, or a schedule referenced as an attachment the e-file does not carry. The figures above are therefore from FY2022, the most recent year this funder named its grantees.

Source object · view filing

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