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Institute for Humane Studies at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Institute for Humane Studies

The Institute discovers, develops, and supports students, scholars, and other intellectuals who maintain the highest standard of academic excellence and who share an interest in the principles of the classical liberal tradition.

$4.2M
Granted FY2025still arriving
71
Grants FY2025still arriving
30
States reached
$93k
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.

Education$5.1MSocial Science$22kPublic Benefit$22k
02FY2025 · 71 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 71 grants below total $1,758,569, the rows itemized in this filing. The $4,224,873 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $2,466,304 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 · FY2025

  • Under $10k13 grants · $100k
  • $10k–50k53 grants · $1.3M
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $320k
$19,975
Median grant
30
States reached
$33M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
University of Rochester$93,000
George Mason University$61,500
Cairn University-Langhorne$60,000
Hillsdale College$55,000
Florida State University$50,000
Grove City College$49,500
Hampden-Sydney College$48,500
Washington College$45,550
Christopher Newport University$45,000
The Regents of the University of California - Berkley$44,655
University of Minnesota System$43,340
University of Arizona$43,160
Mercer University$40,500
Arizona State University$37,825
Northern Kentucky University$36,560
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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 86% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Massachusetts Institute of Technology: $32k → 8%University of Minnesota System: $43k → 11%Cairn University-Langhorne: $60k → 6%Grove City College: $50k → 13%University of Pennsylvania: $82k → 22%YouGov: $31k → 7%The Regents of the University of California - Berkley: $45k → 10%Syracuse University: $42k → 14%Rochester Institute of Technology: $50k → 14%Cornell University: $94k → 16%College of Charleston Foundation: $32k → 12%Georgetown University: $27k → 14%Florida State University: $50k → 19%Hillsdale College: $55k → 14%Michigan State University: $36k → 16%University of Wisconsin-Madison: $30k → 10%Linfield University-McMinnville Campus: $40k → 11%University of New Haven: $30k → 12%Lee University: $33k → 13%Duke University: $135k → 11%University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: $35k → 13%Georgia Tech Research Corporation: $25k → 13%Mercer University: $41k → 23%University of Notre Dame: $50k → 13%Indiana University-Bloomington: $29k → 18%Purdue University-Main Campus: $33k → 19%Bowling Green State University-Main Campus: $42k → 12%The Ohio State University Foundation: $27k → 15%Lake Forest College: $30k → 8%Northwestern University: $38k → 14%George Mason University: $62k → 6%Christopher Newport University: $45k → 17%Hampden-Sydney College: $49k → 20%Louisiana State University Foundation: $35k → 19%Washington College: $46k → 12%Western Kentucky University: $25k → 18%University of Pennsylvania: $25k → 22%University of Rochester: $93k → 14%Purdue University-Main Campus: $27k → 19%West Virginia University: $38k → 19%University of Delaware: $31k → 10%NORC: $87k → 14%Students for Liberty: $27k → 7%Azusa Pacific University: $30k → 14%New York University: $112k → 17%American University: $29k → 14%University of Chicago: $50k → 14%New Orleans Institute of Philosophy Politics and Economics: $27k → 23%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
NH
WA
ID
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
WY
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
DE
AZ
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
OK
LA
MS
AL
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.

49%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.4M · 45 repeat orgs$2.5M to everyone else

45 repeat relationships: 23 still active in FY2025, 22 since wound down; 44 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

45
79

Total granted

$2.4M
$1.4M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+13%
+18%

Still filing today

60%
61%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 34% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.1M went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’21’22’23’24’25
EducationPublic BenefitHealthSocial ScienceRecreation & SportsYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • WV
    WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC
    4× · 2017–2025 · $218k · revenue +5%
  • DUKE UNIVERSITY
    2× · 2023–2024 · $145k · revenue +27%
  • The Florida State University Foundation Inc
    4× · 2018–2025 · $100k · revenue +96%

Funded once

  • Cornell Universitygraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $94k · revenue +27%
  • NATIONAL OPINION RESEARCH CENTERgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $87k · revenue +103%
  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING
    one grant, 2024 · $58k
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
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
2
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
3
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
4
Trinity University

Trinity university is an independent co-educational university whose mission is excellence in the interrelated areas of teaching, research and services.

Education
5
Roger Williams University

At Roger Williams University, students are prepared to be thinkers and doers ready to solve challenging problems with innovative solutions. RWU offers robust offerings of undergraduate, graduate and professional programs across eight…

Education
6
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
7
The Catholic University of America

As the national university of the catholic church in the united states, founded and sponsored by the bishops of the country with the approval of the holy see, the catholic university of america is committed to being a comprehensive…

Education
8
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

Education
9
DePauw University

Depauw university develops leaders the world needs through an uncommon commitment to the liberal arts. depauw's diverse and inclusive learning and living experience, distinctive in its rigorous intellectual engagement and its global and…

Education
10
Benedictine University

Benedictine University is an inclusive academic community dedicated to teaching and learning, scholarship and service, truth and justice, as inspired by the Catholic intellectual tradition, the social teaching of the Church, and the…

Education
11
Capital University

Capital university transforms lives by empowering an inclusive community of learners through engaging academic, co-curricular, and professional experiences.

Education
12
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Syracuse University; the most unlike its peers is Wake Forest University. 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

116 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. 116 of the 176 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
116/116
Grantees still filing
69/116
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $217,600 · EducationWEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INCDUKE UNIVERSITY: $144,839 · EducationNew York University: $129,661 · Education+100 more: $2,751,009 · Education+100 moreIndiana University School of Medicine: $69,620 · OtherTRUSTEES OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY: $65,242 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL: $64,000 · OtherGEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY: $61,500 · OtherTEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY: $60,740 · OtherARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY: $58,325 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF WYOMING: $58,300 · Other+60 more: $1,268,040 · Other+60 moreNATIONAL OPINION RESEARCH CENTER: $87,000 · Social ScienceNorthwestern University: $72,755 · Recreation & SportsYOUNG AMERICANS FOR LIBERTY FOUNDATION: $21,500 · Public BenefitINTERNATIONAL POLICY NETWORK US INC: $7,000 · Public BenefitGEORGIA TECH RESEARCH CORPORATION: $25,000 · HealthAmerica's Future Foundation: $20,000 · Youth Development
Education$3,243,109Other$1,705,767Social Science$87,000Recreation & Sports$72,755Public Benefit$28,500Health$25,000Youth Development$20,000

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 budgetWEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $217,600 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetDUKE UNIVERSITY: $144,839 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNew York University: $129,661 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $107,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetThe Florida State University Foundation Inc: $99,750 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCornell University: $94,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER: $93,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL OPINION RESEARCH CENTER: $87,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: $81,686 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNEW ORLEANS CENTER FOR ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY: $81,000 over 5y, 31% of budgetSYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: $78,253 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCHRISTOPHER NEWPORT UNIVERSITY EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $74,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetNorthwestern University: $72,755 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Notre Dame du Lac: $62,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of New Orleans Foundation: $61,300 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetCAIRN UNIVERSITY: $60,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $57,100 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetHILLSDALE COLLEGE: $55,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Research Foundation for The State University of New York: $52,417 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE: $52,350 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetRochester Institute of Technology: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGROVE CITY COLLEGE: $49,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHAMPDEN-SYDNEY COLLEGE: $48,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLinfield University: $48,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWASHINGTON COLLEGE: $45,550 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CORPORATION OF MERCER UNIVERSITY: $40,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $39,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSAINT ANSELM COLLEGE: $38,633 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY RESEARCH CORPORATION: $38,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOLLEGE OF CHARLESTON FOUNDATION: $37,570 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetThe Ohio University Foundation: $35,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLSU FOUNDATION: $35,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $35,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNorthwood University: $34,021 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetLEE UNIVERSITY: $33,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFLORIDA SOUTHERN COLLEGE: $33,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $32,160 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: $31,400 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $30,900 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetLake Forest College: $30,315 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of New Haven: $30,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHAPMAN UNIVERSITY: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAZUSA PACIFIC UNIVERSITY: $29,850 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOHIO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $27,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSTUDENTS FOR LIBERTY INC: $26,770 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetCONCORDIA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGEORGIA TECH RESEARCH CORPORATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% 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 Foundati…Folds of Honor Founda…National Collegiate A…Tulsa Community Found…American Chemical Soc…The Ohio Foundation o…World Learning IncErnst & Young Foundat…National Writing Proj…Kpmg US Foundation IncThe Jack Miller Cente…Council of Independen…
Charles Koch FoundationVA43.8× affinity19 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Charles Koch Foundation · Folds of Honor Foundation · National Collegiate Athletic Association · Tulsa Community Foundation · American Chemical Society · The Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges · World Learning Inc · Ernst & Young Foundation · National Writing Project Corporation · Kpmg US Foundation Inc · The Jack Miller Center for Teaching America's Founding Principles And · Council of Independent Colleges

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

2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 26% of income from government
  • University of Delaware: 25% of income from government
  • The Trustees of Princeton University: 12% of income from government
  • Johns Hopkins University: 11% of income from government
  • Yale University: 9% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 5% of income from government
  • Linfield University: 4% of income from government
  • University of New Haven: 1% of income from government
  • Wellesley College: 1% of income from government
  • Assumption University: 1% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Middlebury College: 0% of income from government
  • Washington College: 0% of income from government
  • Ramapo College Foundation: 0% of income from government
  • Ave Maria University Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Florida Southern College: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
12report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely 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 176 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 2025, released 2025. 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