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People's Action Institute

The mission of PEOPLE'S ACTION INSTITUTE is to advance a long-term agenda for racial, economic and gender justice by investing in powerful state and local organizations and campaigns that win real change in people's lives

$8.5M
Granted FY2024still arriving
65
Grants FY2024still arriving
32
States reached
$854k
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.

Civil Rights$6.8MPublic Benefit$6.4MCommunity Improvement$5.9MEducation$3.0MEnvironment$2.1MPhilanthropy$1.8MHuman Services$1.5MHousing & Shelter$1.5MOther$0
02FY2024 · 65 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k7 grants · $53k
  • $10k–50k9 grants · $253k
  • $50k–250k44 grants · $5.7M
  • $250k+5 grants · $2.4M
$115,000
Median grant
32
States reached
$25M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CITIZEN ACTION OF WISCONSIN EDUCATION FUND$853,518
PENNSYLVANIA UNITED$700,000
HOOSIER ACTION RESOURCE CENTER$275,123
ORGANIZING NEIGHBORHOODS FOR EQUALITY NORTHSIDE$271,500
IOWA CITIZENS FOR COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT$270,000
VOICES OF COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS & LEADERS INC (VOCAL-NY)$230,000
WE ARE DOWN HOME NC$228,750
MAINE PEOPLE'S RESOURCE CENTER$228,518
SOCIAL GOOD FUND$210,000
COMMUNITY VOICES HEARD$191,500
TAKEACTION MINNESOTA EDUCATION FUND$181,673
STATE DEMOCRACY PROJECT$180,000
CENTER FOR COMMUNITY CHANGE$180,000
CENTER FOR POPULAR DEMOCRACY INC$180,000
FAITH IN ACTION NETWORK$180,000
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 (FY17–24, $2.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 89% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%LOWCOUNTRY ALLIANCE FOR MODEL COMMUNITIES (FS SOUTH CAROLINA HOUSING JUSTI: $150k → 12%COMMUNITIES UNITED FOR ACTION: $139k → 16%LATINO COMMUNITY FUND OF WASHINGTON STATE: $157k → 12%AMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH RUNNING STRONG INC: $40k → 6%CANOPY YOUND ADULT COMMUNITY HOUSE INC: $100k → 8%COMMUNITIES UNITED FOR ACTION: $75k → 16%LATINO COMMUNITY FUND OF WASHINGTON STATE: $100k → 12%RUNNING STRONG FOR AMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH (BRAVE HEART SOCIETY): $40k → 6%CANOPY YOUND ADULT COMMUNITY HOUSE INC: $50k → 8%COLORADO PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE: $230k → 12%COMMUNITIES UNITED FOR ACTION: $70k → 16%LATINO COMMUNITY FUND OF WASHINGTON STATE: $25k → 12%COLORADO PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE: $105k → 12%COLORADO PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE: $80k → 12%COLORADO PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE: $70k → 12%COLORADO PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE: $50k → 12%COLORADO PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE: $40k → 12%COLORADO PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE: $3k → 12%JANE ADDAMS SENIOR CAUCUS: $268k → 14%JANE ADDAMS SENIOR CAUCUS: $128k → 14%JANE ADDAMS SENIOR CAUCUS: $100k → 14%JANE ADDAMS SENIOR CAUCUS: $70k → 14%JANE ADDAMS SENIOR CAUCUS: $20k → 14%JANE ADDAMS SENIOR CAUCUS: $20k → 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

AK
ME
VT
NH
WA
ID
MT
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
WY
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
CO
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
AZ
NM
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
LA
AL
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

89%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$27M · 68 repeat orgs$3.4M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +93% since the first grant, against +6% for those funded once.

68 repeat relationships: 50 still active in FY2024, 18 since wound down; 14 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

68
60

Total granted

$27M
$1.7M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+93%
+6%

Still filing today

96%
72%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 78% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.8M 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
EnvironmentCommunity ImprovementCivil RightsPublic BenefitHuman ServicesEducationOther
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

  • CA
    CITIZEN ACTION OF WISCONSIN EDUCATION FUND INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $1.7M · revenue +232% · 34% of their budget
  • MP
    MAINE PEOPLE'S RESOURCE CENTER
    7× · 2017–2024 · $1.2M · revenue +219%
  • MO
    MICHIGAN ORGANIZING PROJECT
    8× · 2017–2024 · $1.2M · revenue +455%

Funded once

  • TH
    THE HEISING-SIMONS FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2019 · $271k · revenue -54%
  • AD
    ARCHCITY DEFENDERS
    one grant, 2021 · $200k · revenue +23%
  • LA
    LOWCOUNTRY ALLIANCE FOR MODEL COMMUNITIE
    one grant, 2021 · $150k · revenue -51%
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
California Environmental Justice Alliance

Our mission is to fight against fossil fuel executives and industries that have turned our communities into dumping grounds for toxic waste, poisoning our air, water, lan, and bodies. We organize to oppose giant oil refineries, dirty…

Environment
2
Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice

Greenaction mobilizes community power to win victories that change govenment and corporate policies and practices to protect health and promote environmental, economic and social justice.

Environment
3
Western Resource Advocates

Western Resource Advocates (WRA) is a regional nonprofit advocacy organization fighting climate change and its impacts to sustain the environment, economy, and people of the West. As the region's go-to experts for more than three decades,…

Crime & Legal
4
Nw Energy Coalition

The NW Energy Coalition is an alliance of over 100 environmental, civic, and human service organizations, utilities, and businesses in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and British Columbia, plus many individual members. The NW Energy…

—
5
Taproot Earth

Taproot Earth works with communities to support strategies around the use of water, energy and land.

Environment
6
The Partnership Project Action Fund

The Partnership Project Action Fund helps the environmental community work more collaboratively to advocate for the protection of the natural environment.

Environment
7
The Alliance for Collective Action

The Alliance for Collective Action convenes leaders of environmental and social movements to advance solutions for a thriving planet. We advance our mission through the Alliance Center building and community, as well as through Collective…

Environment
8
Colorado People's Action

Colorado people's action (cpa) is a member-driven, racial justice organization dedicated to winning long-lasting progressive public policies in colorado. cpa builds power by mobilizing voters, electing our own people to office, holding…

—
9
Clean Water Action

Clean water action is a national citizens organization working for clean, safe, and affrodable water, prevention of health threatening pollution, creation of environmentally safe jobs and busnesses and empowerment of people to make…

—
10
Wepower

We activate community power to redesign social systems to be just and equitable for all through (1) developing and supporting leaders and organizations and (2) leading campaigns, coalitions, and innovative initiatives.

Community Improvement
11
Central Valley Partnership

The Central Valley Partnership (CVP) conducts and collaborates in training initiatives, including community organizer training, education on labor history and issues, messaging workshops, etc., aimed at fostering the establishment of new…

Civil Rights
12
Electoral Collective Action

Electoral Collective Action coordinates a broad-based coalition of existing entities active in the climate justice and community organizing space to raise public awareness and educational opportunities.

Civil Rights
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Voices of Community Activists & Leaders (Vocal-Ny) Inc; the most unlike its peers is Green Valley Film & Art Center. 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

130 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. 130 of the 146 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.

18
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
53
Early backer (in before they grew)
126/130
Grantees still filing
78/130
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

HOMETOWN ORGANIZING PROJECT: $1,085,056 · Community ImprovementHOMETOWN ORGANIZING…IOWA CITIZENS FOR COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT: $1,008,000 · Community ImprovementIOWA CITIZENS FOR C…ALLIANCE FOR A JUST SOCIETY: $719,500 · Community ImprovementALLIANCE FOR A JUST…People Organized For Westside Renewal POWER: $637,583 · Community ImprovementPeople Organized Fo…ILLINOIS PEOPLES ACTION: $455,000 · Community ImprovementILLINOIS PEOPLES AC…UNITED VISION FOR IDAHO INC: $442,500 · Community ImprovementUNITED VISION FOR I…PENNSYLVANIA STANDS UP INSTITUTE: $388,750 · Community ImprovementPENNSYLVANIA STANDS…Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition Inc: $205,613 · Community Improvement+9 more: $687,779 · Community Improvement+9 moreCITIZEN ACTION OF WISCONSIN EDUCATION FUND INC: $1,746,741 · Public BenefitCITIZEN ACTION O…THE PEOPLE'S LOBBY EDUCATION INSTITUTE: $608,791 · Public BenefitTHE PEOPLE'S LOB…PUBLIC POLICY AND EDUCATION FUND OF NEW YORK INC: $575,963 · Public BenefitPUBLIC POLICY AN…TAKEACTION MN EDUCATION FUND: $541,673 · Public BenefitTAKEACTION MN ED…CENTER FOR POPULAR DEMOCRACY INC: $280,000 · Public BenefitCENTER FOR POPUL…NEW JERSEY CITIZEN ACTION EDUCATION FUND INC: $229,450 · Public BenefitSOUTHERN VISION ALLIANCE: $200,000 · Public BenefitSTATE DEMOCRACY PROJECT: $180,000 · Public Benefit+3 more: $245,000 · Public BenefitHOOSIER ACTION RESOURCE CENTER INC: $805,373 · Civil RightsHOOSIER ACTION…Pennsylvania United: $700,000 · Civil RightsPennsylvania U…PROGRESSIVE LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE OF NEVADA: $675,000 · Civil RightsPROGRESSIVE LE…SHOWING UP FOR RACIAL JUSTICE EDUCATION FUND INC: $425,000 · Civil RightsSHOWING UP FOR…KC TENANTS: $385,000 · Civil RightsKC TENANTSSOUTHWEST ORGANIZING PROJECT: $370,000 · Civil RightsSOUTHWEST ORGA…NEIGHBOR TO NEIGHBOR MASSACHUSETTS EDUCATION FUND INC: $333,000 · Civil RightsNEIGHBOR TO NE…CENTER FOR INTERCULTURAL ORGANIZING: $140,000 · Civil Rights+4 more: $270,000 · Civil Rights+4 moreMAINE PEOPLE'S RESOURCE CENTER: $1,171,518 · OtherMAINE PEOPLE'S RESOURCE CENTEROrganizing Neighborhoods For Equality Northside: $849,833 · OtherOrganizing Neighborhoods For Equali…COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION INC: $439,500 · OtherARKANSAS PUBLIC POLICY PANEL INC: $699,250 · OtherARKANSAS PUBLIC POLICY PANEL INCCommunity Voices Heard Inc: $681,500 · OtherCommunity Voices Heard IncMISSOURI JOBS WITH JUSTICE: $648,474 · OtherMISSOURI JOBS WITH JUSTICERIGHTS & DEMOCRACY EDUCATION FUND INC: $944,950 · OtherRIGHTS & DEMOCRACY EDUCATION FUND I…VOICES OF COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS & LEADERS (VOCAL-NY) INC: $502,500 · OtherPEOPLE UNITED FOR SUSTAINABLE HOUSING INC: $725,000 · OtherPEOPLE UNITED FOR SUSTAINABLE HOUSI…ROOT CAUSE RESEARCH CENTER INC: $485,000 · Other+75 more: $2,877,051 · Other+75 morePROGRESSIVE MARYLAND EDUCATION FUND INC: $905,963 · EducationPROGRESSIVE …WE ARE DOWN HOME: $894,750 · EducationWE ARE DOWN …SOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $726,403 · EducationSOCIAL GOOD …NEW JERSEY RESOURCE PROJECT INC: $565,841 · EducationNEW JERSEY R…WEST VIRGINIA CITIZEN ACTION EDUCATION FUND: $360,963 · EducationWEST VIRGINI…+3 more: $100,000 · EducationJane Addams Senior Caucus: $606,333 · Human ServicesCOLORADO PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE: $578,300 · Human ServicesCOMMUNITIES UNITED FOR ACTION: $283,750 · Human ServicesLatino Community Fund of Washington State: $281,750 · Human ServicesCAROLINA FEDERATION FUND: $210,000 · Human ServicesCanopy Young Adult Community House Inc: $150,000 · Human ServicesLOWCOUNTRY ALLIANCE FOR MODEL COMMUNITIE: $150,000 · Human ServicesAMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH RUNNING STRONG INC: $80,000 · Human ServicesMICHIGAN ORGANIZING PROJECT: $1,150,805 · PhilanthropyTIDES FOUNDATION: $519,000 · PhilanthropyTHE HEISING-SIMONS FOUNDATION: $270,700 · Philanthropy+2 more: $22,500 · Philanthropy
Community Improvement$5,629,781Public Benefit$4,607,618Civil Rights$4,103,373Other$10,024,576Education$3,553,920Human Services$2,340,133Philanthropy$1,963,005

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCITIZEN ACTION OF WISCONSIN EDUCATION FUND INC: $1,746,741 over 8y, 34% of budgetMAINE PEOPLE'S RESOURCE CENTER: $1,171,518 over 7y, 8.9% of budgetMICHIGAN ORGANIZING PROJECT: $1,150,805 over 8y, 13% of budgetHOMETOWN ORGANIZING PROJECT: $1,085,056 over 5y, 70% of budgetIOWA CITIZENS FOR COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT: $1,008,000 over 7y, 16% of budgetRIGHTS & DEMOCRACY EDUCATION FUND INC: $944,950 over 7y, 31% of budgetPROGRESSIVE MARYLAND EDUCATION FUND INC: $905,963 over 7y, 52% of budgetWE ARE DOWN HOME: $894,750 over 5y, 11% of budgetOrganizing Neighborhoods For Equality Northside: $849,833 over 8y, 18% of budgetHOOSIER ACTION RESOURCE CENTER INC: $805,373 over 4y, 29% of budgetSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $726,403 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetPEOPLE UNITED FOR SUSTAINABLE HOUSING INC: $725,000 over 7y, 10% of budgetALLIANCE FOR A JUST SOCIETY: $719,500 over 4y, 1.5% of budgetPennsylvania United: $700,000 over 1y, 9.8% of budgetARKANSAS PUBLIC POLICY PANEL INC: $699,250 over 4y, 37% of budgetCommunity Voices Heard Inc: $681,500 over 7y, 6.5% of budgetPROGRESSIVE LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE OF NEVADA: $675,000 over 7y, 7.1% of budgetMISSOURI JOBS WITH JUSTICE: $648,474 over 5y, 25% of budgetPeople Organized For Westside Renewal POWER: $637,583 over 6y, 33% of budgetTHE PEOPLE'S LOBBY EDUCATION INSTITUTE: $608,791 over 7y, 29% of budgetJane Addams Senior Caucus: $606,333 over 6y, 65% of budgetCOLORADO PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE: $578,300 over 7y, 15% of budgetPUBLIC POLICY AND EDUCATION FUND OF NEW YORK INC: $575,963 over 7y, 2.8% of budgetNEW JERSEY RESOURCE PROJECT INC: $565,841 over 7y, 36% of budgetTAKEACTION MN EDUCATION FUND: $541,673 over 6y, 5.8% of budgetTIDES FOUNDATION: $519,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetVOICES OF COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS & LEADERS (VOCAL-NY) INC: $502,500 over 5y, 1.8% of budgetROOT CAUSE RESEARCH CENTER INC: $485,000 over 4y, 45% of budgetILLINOIS PEOPLES ACTION: $455,000 over 6y, 38% of budgetUNITED VISION FOR IDAHO INC: $442,500 over 7y, 83% of budgetCOMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION INC: $439,500 over 3y, 19% of budgetSHOWING UP FOR RACIAL JUSTICE EDUCATION FUND INC: $425,000 over 4y, 13% of budgetPENNSYLVANIA STANDS UP INSTITUTE: $388,750 over 3y, 10% of budgetKC TENANTS: $385,000 over 3y, 21% of budgetSOUTHWEST ORGANIZING PROJECT: $370,000 over 5y, 11% of budgetWEST VIRGINIA CITIZEN ACTION EDUCATION FUND: $360,963 over 8y, 17% of budgetNEIGHBOR TO NEIGHBOR MASSACHUSETTS EDUCATION FUND INC: $333,000 over 6y, 5.7% of budgetCONNECTICUT CITIZEN RESEARCH GROUP INC: $299,641 over 6y, 19% of budgetCOMMUNITIES UNITED FOR ACTION: $283,750 over 3y, 58% of budgetLatino Community Fund of Washington State: $281,750 over 3y, 3.0% of budgetCENTER FOR POPULAR DEMOCRACY INC: $280,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetWashington Community Action Network Education & Research Fund: $277,500 over 6y, 4.0% of budgetTHE HEISING-SIMONS FOUNDATION: $270,700 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNEW JERSEY CITIZEN ACTION EDUCATION FUND INC: $229,450 over 5y, 2.7% of budgetCAROLINA FEDERATION FUND: $210,000 over 2y, 38% of budgetNorthwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition Inc: $205,613 over 4y, 1.2% of budgetCENTER FOR HEALTH PROGRESS: $203,741 over 2y, 8.2% of budgetSOUTHERN VISION ALLIANCE: $200,000 over 2y, 1.3% 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.

Windward FundDC98.9× affinity54 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Windward Fund · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · New Venture Fund · Patagoniaorg · United States Energy Foundation · Proteus Fund Inc · Tides Foundation · Common Counsel Foundation · Marguerite Casey Foundation · Center for Community Change · Working Families Organization Inc · The Schmidt Family 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 People's Action Institute funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from People's Action Institute. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 90%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 13%
  • Center for Intercultural Organizing: 28% of income from government
  • Beyond Toxics: 13% of income from government
  • New Jersey Citizen Action Education Fund Inc: 9% of income from government
  • Connecticut Citizen Research Group Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
9get no government money at all
26report 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 146 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

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