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Policylink at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Policylink

POLICYLINK is a national research and action institute working to build a future where all people in the united states of america can participate in a flourishing multiracial democracy, prosper in an equitable economy, and live in thriving communities of opportunity.

$13M
Granted FY2024still arriving
127
Grants FY2024still arriving
32
States reached
$3.5M
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, FY2019 to 2024.

Civil Rights$21MCommunity Improvement$14MPhilanthropy$4.0MArts & Culture$2.7MPublic Benefit$2.2MEducation$2.2MHuman Services$1.9MHousing & Shelter$1.8MOther$0
02FY2024 · 127 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k6 grants · $48k
  • $10k–50k69 grants · $1.7M
  • $50k–250k46 grants · $4.3M
  • $250k+6 grants · $7.2M
$40,000
Median grant
32
States reached
$116M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
LIBERATION IN A GENERATION$3,531,226
LIBERATION VENTURES INC$1,669,986
THE STORIES OF US INC$1,044,218
LA LIGA DE CIUDADES DE PUERTO RICO$450,000
LOCAL PROGRESS POLICY INSTITUTE$250,000
JUST CAPITAL FOUNDATION INC$250,000
CENTER FOR POPULAR DEMOCRACY$183,203
FSG - BOSTON$171,000
POSSIBILITY LABS$170,000
GET FREE MOVEMENT FUND$152,500
CALIFORNIA BLACK POWER NETWORK$152,500
EQUAL JUSTICE SOCIETY$152,500
JOBS WITH JUSTICE EDUCATION FUND$132,110
FREE PRESS$127,500
EQUITY AND TRANSFORMATION$127,500
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 (FY19–24, $2.4M) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 76% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%CENTER ON POLICY INITIATIVES: $8k → 11%KANSAS ACTION FOR CHILDREN INC: $50k → 14%UNITED FOR A NEW ECONOMY: $20k → 10%SPRINGBOARD TO OPPORTUNITIES: $8k → 23%NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE INC: $103k → 16%TRIBAL IMAGES MUSEUM INC: $40k → 17%NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF AMERICAN SLAVERY DESCENDANTS: $25k → 6%HOUSING CALIFORNIA: $81k → 12%CHAINBREAKER COLLECTIVE: $10k → 12%PUBLIC ALLIES INC: $38k → 17%GEORGIA RESILIENCE AND OPPORTUNITY FUND INC: $43k → 13%NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE INC: $53k → 16%NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF AMERICAN SLAVERY DESCENDANTS: $13k → 6%CHAINBREAKER COLLECTIVE: $8k → 12%NUESTRA CASA DE EAST PALO ALTO: $25k → 8%HOUSING CALIFORNIA: $32k → 12%WE THE PEOPLE OF DETROIT: $49k → 21%WE THE PEOPLE OF DETROIT: $40k → 21%NUESTRA CASA DE EAST PALO ALTO: $10k → 8%WE THE PEOPLE OF DETROIT: $10k → 21%SACRED HEART COMMUNITY SERVICE: $65k → 8%TIDES CENTER: $140k → 10%THE ACCOMPLIS COLLECTIVE INC: $28k → 20%EQUITY AND TRANSFORMATION: $128k → 14%TIDES CENTER: $78k → 10%NPH ACTION FUND POLITICAL ISSUES COMMITTEE: $30k → 12%THE ACCOMPLIS COLLECTIVE INC: $28k → 20%EQUITY AND TRANSFORMATION: $103k → 14%ONE DEGREE: $10k → 10%SOUTHEAST ASIAN COMMUNITY ALLIANCE: $10k → 14%HARLEM CHILDREN'S ZONE INC: $940k → 17%POSSIBILITY LABS: $170k → 10%HEAD AND HEART PHILANTHROPY: $10k → 10%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
MT
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
SD
IN
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
CO
MO
KY
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
KS
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.

66%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$37M · 81 repeat orgs$19M to everyone else

81 repeat relationships: 51 still active in FY2024, 30 since wound down; 70 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

81
166

Total granted

$37M
$13M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+4%
+7%

Still filing today

94%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 52% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $6.2M went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
Civil RightsHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementArts & CultureEnvironmentEducationOther
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

  • NEO Philanthropy Inc
    2× · 2020–2022 · $1.3M · revenue +27%
  • SIERRA HEALTH FOUNDATION CENTER FOR HEALTH PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
    4× · 2020–2024 · $1.3M · revenue +22%
  • FP
    FREE PRESS
    4× · 2021–2024 · $403k · revenue +186%

Funded once

  • CF
    CENTER FOR COMMUNITY CHANGE ACTION
    one grant, 2021 · $2.3M · revenue -55%
  • HC
    HARLEM CHILDREN'S ZONE INC
    one grant, 2021 · $940k · revenue -55%
  • TF
    THE FORD FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $829k · revenue +128%
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
Jobs with Justice San Francisco

A long-term, strategic alliance of labor, community, faith-based, and student organizations working together to build greater economic power for workers and community members through employee rights at work and access to good jobs,…

Employment
2
Chicago United for Equity

Connecting and amplifying the power of individuals to build a just, equitable, and inclusive city.

Civil Rights
3
Asian Law Caucus

The Asian Law Caucus's mission is to promote, advance, and represent the legal and civil rights of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities, recognizing that social, economic, political and racial inequalities continue to exist…

Crime & Legal
4
Justice Funders

Serve as a partner, educator, and guide for philanthropy in reimagining practices that advance a thriving and just world.

—
5
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
6
California Donor Table

California Donor Table anchors a hub of donors, foundations, and community leaders. We pool together our resources to shape California into a truly democratic state that works for the people, not the powerful. Rooted in our commitment to…

Civil Rights
7
Cooperation L a

The L.A. Co-op Lab is a collective that builds capacity for worker ownership in Los Angeles as a pathway toward a more equitable and democratic economy.

Arts & Culture
8
Forward Together

Forward Together is a national reproductive justice organization that centers people, families, and communities who experience reproductive oppression. They prioritize queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, and other peoples of color and utilize…

Health
9
The Climate Center

The Climate Center is a climate and energy policy nonprofit working to rapidly reduce climate pollution at scale, starting in California.

Education
10
Common Future

Common future is a network of pioneering leaders across the u.s. and canada who work deeply within their communities to create alternative approaches to business, philanthropy, and investing. we envision an economy that has transitioned…

Community Improvement
11
Southern Coalition for Social Justice

Southern coalition for social justice partners with communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities across the south to defend and advance their political, social, and economic rights. through an intersectional and…

Crime & Legal
12
Nexus Community Partners

Nexus' mission is to build more engaged and powerful communities by supporting community building initiatives that expand community wealth and foster social and human capital.

Philanthropy
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 The Heising-Simons Foundation. 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

273 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. 273 of the 333 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.

13
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
36
Early backer (in before they grew)
270/273
Grantees still filing
117/273
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Black Ambition Opportunity Inc: $10,002,453 · Civil RightsBlack Ambition Opportunity IncLIBERATION IN A GENERATION: $4,965,514 · Civil RightsLIBERATION IN A GENERATIONLIBERATION VENTURES INC: $1,669,986 · Civil RightsLIBERATION VENTURES INC+21 more: $2,977,500 · Civil Rights+21 morePROJECT SOUTH INC: $7,697,989 · OtherPROJECT SOUTH INCLIVEGISTICS LLC: $750,000 · OtherTHE FORD FOUNDATION: $829,466 · OtherSIERRA HEALTH FOUNDATION CENTER FOR HEALTH PROGRAM MANAGEMENT: $1,252,505 · OtherSIERRA HEALTH FOUNDATION CENTER FOR HEALTH …+123 more: $10,763,813 · Other+123 moreCENTER FOR COMMUNITY CHANGE ACTION: $2,266,667 · Public BenefitNEO Philanthropy Inc: $1,317,348 · Public BenefitCENTER FOR POPULAR DEMOCRACY INC: $219,203 · Public Benefit+2 more: $150,000 · Public BenefitRESULTS FOR AMERICA: $752,045 · EducationACCE Institute: $570,000 · EducationLOCAL PROGRESS POLICY INSTITUTE: $400,000 · EducationNORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $302,500 · EducationThe New School: $200,000 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $177,500 · EducationKINFOLK TECH FOUNDATION: $155,000 · EducationBE GREAT TOGETHER: $150,000 · EducationEducation Justice Academy: $100,000 · Education+2 more: $122,500 · EducationHARLEM CHILDREN'S ZONE INC: $940,000 · Human ServicesCOALICION DE COALICIONES PRO PERSONAS SIN HOGAR DE PUERTO RICO: $450,000 · Human ServicesEQUITY AND TRANSFORMATION: $230,000 · Human ServicesTIDES CENTER: $217,500 · Human ServicesPOSSIBILITY LABS: $170,000 · Human ServicesTHE NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE INC: $155,000 · Human ServicesHOUSING CALIFORNIA INC: $112,500 · Human ServicesWe the People of Detroit: $99,000 · Human Services+10 more: $420,000 · Human ServicesThe Stories of Us Inc: $1,044,218 · Arts & CultureFREE PRESS: $402,500 · Arts & CultureTHE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC: $180,000 · Arts & CultureALLIED MEDIA PROJECTS INC: $157,500 · Arts & CultureLEVEL GROUND: $102,500 · Arts & CultureKQED INC: $102,500 · Arts & CultureEAGLE MARKET STREETS DEVELOPMENT CO: $102,500 · Arts & Culture+6 more: $280,000 · Arts & CultureTHE URBAN INSTITUTE: $1,210,000 · Social ScienceJUST CAPITAL FOUNDATION INC: $824,255 · Social Science
Civil Rights$19,615,453Other$21,293,773Public Benefit$3,953,218Education$2,929,545Human Services$2,794,000Arts & Culture$2,371,718Social Science$2,034,255

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%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetBlack Ambition Opportunity Inc: $10,002,453 over 2y, 55% of budgetPROJECT SOUTH INC: $7,697,989 over 4y, 27% of budgetLIBERATION IN A GENERATION: $4,965,514 over 2y, 57% of budgetCENTER FOR COMMUNITY CHANGE ACTION: $2,266,667 over 1y, 15% of budgetLIBERATION VENTURES INC: $1,669,986 over 1y, 45% of budgetNEO Philanthropy Inc: $1,317,348 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetSIERRA HEALTH FOUNDATION CENTER FOR HEALTH PROGRAM MANAGEMENT: $1,252,505 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetTHE URBAN INSTITUTE: $1,210,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetThe Stories of Us Inc: $1,044,218 over 1y, 76% of budgetHARLEM CHILDREN'S ZONE INC: $940,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTHE FORD FOUNDATION: $829,466 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetJUST CAPITAL FOUNDATION INC: $824,255 over 3y, 2.6% of budgetRESULTS FOR AMERICA: $752,045 over 1y, 3.1% of budgetCALIFORNIA CALLS EDUCATION FUND: $600,000 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetACCE Institute: $570,000 over 4y, 5.8% of budgetCOALICION DE COALICIONES PRO PERSONAS SIN HOGAR DE PUERTO RICO: $450,000 over 1y, 24% of budgetLIGA DE CIUDADES DE PUERTO RICO: $450,000 over 1y, 28% of budgetFREE PRESS: $402,500 over 4y, 2.2% of budgetLOCAL PROGRESS POLICY INSTITUTE: $400,000 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetFSG INC: $319,729 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetNORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $305,000 over 4y, 4.2% of budgetThe Beloved Community Center of Greensboro Inc: $305,000 over 4y, 14% of budgetFORWARD JUSTICE: $303,430 over 3y, 2.4% of budgetNORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $302,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGoodnation Foundation Inc: $285,813 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetGET FREE MOVEMENT FUND INC: $280,000 over 2y, 24% of budgetFIRSTREPAIR: $257,500 over 2y, 23% of budgetCOMMUNITY PARTNERS: $251,083 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetLEADERSHIP COUNSEL FOR JUSTICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY: $250,000 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetEQUITY AND TRANSFORMATION: $230,000 over 2y, 4.4% of budgetTHE CALIFORNIA ENDOWMENT: $228,204 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetINSTITUTE OF THE BLACK WORLD 21ST CENTURY: $227,500 over 2y, 9.7% of budgetCENTER FOR POPULAR DEMOCRACY INC: $219,203 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetTIDES CENTER: $217,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING SERVICES OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY: $202,500 over 3y, 4.4% of budgetThe New School: $200,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCENTER FOR COMMUNITY CHANGE: $200,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetThe Chicago Community Trust: $200,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR INCARCERATED AND FORMERLY INCARCERATED WOMEN & GIRLS: $182,000 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC: $180,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $177,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNEW VENTURE FUND: $174,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPOSSIBILITY LABS: $170,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetALLIED MEDIA PROJECTS INC: $157,500 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetKINFOLK TECH FOUNDATION: $155,000 over 2y, 5.1% of budgetREDRESS MOVEMENT: $155,000 over 2y, 7.9% of budgetTHE NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE INC: $155,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetCALIFORNIA BLACK POWER NETWORK: $152,500 over 1y, 9.0% 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.

Amalgamated Charitabl…Common Counsel Founda…NEO Philanthropy IncBorealis PhilanthropyTides CenterMarguerite Casey Foun…Movement Strategy Cen…Windward FundNew Venture FundSurdna Foundation IncThe James Irvine Foun…United States Energy …
Amalgamated Charitable Foundation IncDC81.5× affinity99 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Common Counsel Foundation · NEO Philanthropy Inc · Borealis Philanthropy · Tides Center · Marguerite Casey Foundation · Movement Strategy Center · Windward Fund · New Venture Fund · Surdna Foundation Inc · The James Irvine Foundation · United States Energy 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 Policylink funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Policylink. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 100%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • Connecticut Fair Housing Center Inc: 34% of income from government
  • Oregon Law Center: 11% of income from government
  • Tulsa Community Foundation: 11% of income from government
  • Northeastern University: 7% of income from government
  • The Center for Independent Documentary Inc: 6% of income from government
  • Third Sector New England Inc: 3% of income from government
  • Verde Inc: 3% of income from government
  • Resist Inc: 2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
10get no government money at all
33report 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 333 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 Policylink’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