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Media Matters for America at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Media Matters for America

Dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the u.s.

$50k
Granted FY2024still arriving
1
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$50k
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.

Public Benefit$1.5MArts & Culture$867kEducation$499kCivil Rights$90kCrime & Legal$50k
02FY2024 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$50,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$18M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA$50,000
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 12%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%NEBRASKA LEGAL ACTION EDUCATION FUND: $50k → 13%THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $50k → 14%THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION: $467k → 14%FORWARDTN: $40k → 14%THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION: $300k → 14%THE FRANKLIN EDUCATION FORUM: $220k → 14%THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION: $100k → 14%COUNTERACT FOUNDATION: $102k → 14%AMERICAN BRIDGE 21ST CENTURY FOUNDATION: $500k → 14%AMRICAN BRIDGE 21ST CENTURY FOUNDATION: $254k → 14%FRANKLIN EDUCATION FORUM: $229k → 14%VET VOICE FOUNDATION: $255k → 14%VET VOICE FOUNDATION: $100k → 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.
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.

80%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.4M · 4 repeat orgs$592k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +4335% since the first grant, against -27% for those funded once.

4 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2024, 4 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
6

Total granted

$2.4M
$542k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+4335%
-27%

Still filing today

100%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $50k 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 RightsPublic BenefitCommunity ImprovementEducationOther
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

  • TA
    THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION
    3× · 2019–2021 · $867k · revenue ×44 · 35% of their budget
  • AF
    AB FOUNDATION
    2× · 2017–2018 · $754k · revenue +779%
  • DM
    DEMOCRACY MATTERS FOUNDATION
    2× · 2017–2021 · $449k · revenue ×87 · 56% of their budget

Funded once

  • VL
    VOTO LATINO FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2022 · $275k · revenue -5%
  • CF
    COUNTERACT FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2022 · $102k · 27% of their budget
  • NL
    NEBRASKA LEGAL ACTION EDUCATION FUND
    one grant, 2023 · $50k
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
Democracy Matters

Democracy matters was formed to connect and build a community of pro-democracy donors.

Civil Rights
2
Send the Vote Inc

Conduct digital, direct mail and other public communication campaigns to support voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts.

—
3
America Votes Education Fund

America Votes Education Fund is dedicated to expanding all voters' access to the ballot through a grantmaking program.

Civil Rights
4
Us Vote Foundation Inc

Every citizen is a voter. the foundation executes its mission through the development and provision of voter services, information, and election data.

Civil Rights
5
Votevets Action Fund Inc

Advocate for interests of troops,veterans,and military families.

—
6
Defend the Vote Action Fund

To sustain and support the prioritization of comprehensive voting rights and democracy reform legislation at all levels of government.

—
7
America Votes

The Organization was established to coordinate and promote progressive issues, policies, initiatives, and referenda, and to pursue electoral reform that expands access to the ballot.

Community Improvement
8
All Americans Vote

All Americans Vote aims to motivate underrepresented Americans to engage in the most patriotic of exercises - voting!

Civil Rights
9
Fair Fight Action Inc

Fair fight action promotes fair elections in georgia and around the country, encourages voter participation in elections, educates voters about elections and their voting rights, and advocates for progressive issues.

Education
10
Discourse Labs Inc

Discourse labs provides research-backed tools and resources for productive public dialogue. we believe people should have the tools, technology, and skills to engage in productive public dialogue using credible information.

—
11
Fair Democracy

Fair democracy works to ensure that the roots of american democracy are healthy with strong voting rights and access, an engaged and informed electorate, an open and accountable government and trusted messengers engaging americans in civil…

Civil Rights
12
Voto Latino Inc

Voto latino educates and empowers a new generation of latino voters, ultimately guiding the latino community towards full realization of its political power and creating a more robust and inclusive democracy.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Voto Latino Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Forward Tn. 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

10 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. 10 of the 11 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
5/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

DEMOCRACY MATTERS FOUNDATION: $449,000 · Civil RightsDEMOCRACY MATTERS FOUNDATIONVET VOICE FOUNDATION INC: $355,000 · Civil RightsVET VOICE FOUNDATION INCVOTO LATINO FOUNDATION INC: $275,000 · Civil RightsVOTO LATINO FOUNDATION INCCOUNTERACT FOUNDATION: $102,000 · Civil RightsCOUNTERACT FOUNDATIONNEBRASKA LEGAL ACTION EDUCATION FUND: $50,000 · Civil RightsTHE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION: $867,000 · OtherTHE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATIONGLAAD INC: $50,000 · OtherREGENTS UNIV OF CALIFORNIA: $50,000 · OtherAB FOUNDATION: $754,000 · Public BenefitAB FOUNDATIONFORWARD TN: $40,000 · Community ImprovementIVote Civic Education Fund Inc: $25,000 · Education
Civil Rights$1,231,000Other$967,000Public Benefit$754,000Community Improvement$40,000Education$25,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION: $867,000 over 3y, 35% of budgetAB FOUNDATION: $754,000 over 2y, 6.0% of budgetDEMOCRACY MATTERS FOUNDATION: $449,000 over 2y, 56% of budgetVET VOICE FOUNDATION INC: $355,000 over 2y, 5.3% of budgetVOTO LATINO FOUNDATION INC: $275,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetCOUNTERACT FOUNDATION: $102,000 over 1y, 27% of budgetGLAAD INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetFORWARD TN: $40,000 over 1y, 8.2% of budgetIVote Civic Education Fund Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% 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.

Tides FoundationMorgan Stanley Global…Fidelity Investments …
Tides FoundationCA12.5× affinity4 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Tides Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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 Media Matters for America funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Media Matters for America. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%2%8%17%30%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 11 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 Media Matters for America’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