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Online News Association at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Online News Association

To inspire and support innovation and excellence in digital journalism.

$683k
Granted FY2024still arriving
3
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$625k
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.

Human Services$3.3MEducation$981kArts & Culture$276kScience & Tech$35kSocial Science$20kEnvironment$10kPublic Benefit$8k
02FY2024 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 3 grants below total $642,600, the rows itemized in this filing. The $682,700 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $40,100 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 $10k1 grant · $8k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
  • $250k+1 grant · $625k
$10,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$1.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PIVOT FUND$625,100
PRO PUBLICA INC$10,000
THE WASHINGTON POST$7,500
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 (FY23–24, $2.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%PIVOT FUND: $1.5M → 9%PIVOT FUND: $625k → 9%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

WA
IL
MI
NY
MA
NV
OH
CT
CA
CO
KY
WV
VA
MD
AZ
KS
NC
DC
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.

94%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.3M · 28 repeat orgs$273k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +38% since the first grant, against +27% for those funded once.

28 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 25 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

28
18

Total granted

$4.3M
$273k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+38%
+27%

Still filing today

43%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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
EducationArts & CultureHuman ServicesInternationalEnvironmentOther
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

  • UO
    University of Nevada Reno Foundation
    2× · 2017–2018 · $85k · revenue +35%
  • PRO PUBLICA INC
    5× · 2018–2024 · $57k · revenue +141%
  • NA
    NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION
    3× · 2018–2020 · $50k · revenue +366%

Funded once

  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
    one grant, 2017 · $35k
  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ANNENBERG
    one grant, 2017 · $25k
  • DU
    DEPAUL UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2020 · $20k · revenue +7%
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
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

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
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
4
The George Washington University

The mission of the george washington university (gw) is to educate individuals in liberal arts, languages, sciences, learned professions, and other courses and subjects of study, and to conduct scholarly research and publish the findings…

Education
5
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
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
Point Park University

Provides innovative education in a dynamic urban setting. dedicated to academic excellence and community engagement,we prepare students of diverse backgrounds with the knowledge, skill,and experience to lead meaningful lives as informed…

—
8
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
9
Boston Architectural College

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

—
10
Columbia College Chicago

The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.

Education
11
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
12
Golden Gate University

Golden gate university prepares individuals to lead and serve by providing high quality, practice-based educational programs in law, taxation, business and related professions - as a nonprofit institution - in an innovative and challenging…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Syracuse University; the most unlike its peers is University of Miami. 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

26 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. 26 of the 48 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
26/26
Grantees still filing
23/26
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE PIVOT FUND INC: $3,323,428 · Human ServicesTHE PIVOT FUND INCMICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: $85,000 · OtherMICHIGAN STATE UNI…UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: $85,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF MARY…UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA: $50,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF GEOR…UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI: $35,000 · OtherSAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY: $35,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA: $35,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF KANSAS: $35,000 · OtherWASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY: $35,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $35,000 · OtherUNC SCHOOL OF MEDIA JOURNALISM: $35,000 · OtherOHIO UNIVERSITY: $35,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO: $35,000 · OtherTHE WASHINGTON POST: $27,500 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ANNENBERG: $25,000 · Other+10 more: $161,550 · Other+10 moreUniversity of Nevada Reno Foundation: $85,000 · EducationUniversity…NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $50,000 · EducationNORTHERN A…QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY: $35,000 · EducationQUINNIPIAC…THE HOWARD UNIVERSITY: $35,000 · EducationTHE HOWARD…EMERSON COLLEGE: $35,000 · EducationEMERSON CO…University of Miami: $35,000 · EducationUniversity…UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $30,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY…DEPAUL UNIVERSITY: $20,000 · EducationUNIVERSIDAD DEL SAGRADO CORAZON INC: $20,000 · EducationTHE COLORADO COLLEGE: $20,000 · EducationCRAIG NEWMARK GRADUATE SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM CUNY FOUNDATION INC: $20,000 · EducationSAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION SDSU RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $15,000 · EducationWEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 · Education+2 more: $16,410 · EducationPRO PUBLICA INC: $56,750 · Arts & CultureGREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $20,000 · Arts & CultureSOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO: $17,500 · Arts & CultureKENTUCKY PUBLIC RADIO INC: $10,000 · Arts & CultureFirst Look Institute Inc: $7,500 · Arts & CultureTRACE MEDIA INC: $7,500 · Arts & CultureGISA INC: $20,000 · InternationalGrist Magazine Inc: $10,000 · Environment
Human Services$3,323,428Other$749,050Education$431,410Arts & Culture$119,250International$20,000Environment$10,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE PIVOT FUND INC: $3,323,428 over 3y, 85% of budgetPRO PUBLICA INC: $56,750 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetNORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetQUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY: $35,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE HOWARD UNIVERSITY: $35,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetEMERSON COLLEGE: $35,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Miami: $35,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDEPAUL UNIVERSITY: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGISA INC: $20,000 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetElectronic Frontier Foundation Inc: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE COLORADO COLLEGE: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCRAIG NEWMARK GRADUATE SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM CUNY FOUNDATION INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetGREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO: $17,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION SDSU RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGrist Magazine Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetKENTUCKY PUBLIC RADIO INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFirst Look Institute Inc: $7,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTRACE MEDIA INC: $7,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: $6,410 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.

  • Who funds THE PIVOT FUND INC ↗
  • Who funds University of Nevada Reno Foundation ↗
  • Who funds PRO PUBLICA INC ↗
  • Who funds NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds THE HOWARD UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds EMERSON COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds University of Miami ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ↗
  • Who funds DEPAUL UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds GISA INC ↗
  • Who funds Electronic Frontier Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSIDAD DEL SAGRADO CORAZON INC ↗
  • Who funds THE COLORADO COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds CRAIG NEWMARK GRADUATE SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM CUNY FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds GREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO ↗
  • Who funds SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION SDSU RESEARCH FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Grist Magazine Inc ↗

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.

John D and Catherine …Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
John D and Catherine T Macarthur FoundationIL12.9× affinity4 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Online News Association funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Online News Association. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 5%
  • Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
  • University of Miami: 5% of income from government
  • Quinnipiac University: 0% of income from government
  • Emerson College: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get 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 48 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 Online News Association’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