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Public Citizen Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Public Citizen Inc

Work for consumer rights

$209k
Granted FY2025still arriving
4
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$66k
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$546kCivil Rights$167kEducation$150kCommunity Improvement$78kPublic Safety & Disaster$50kEmployment$10k
02FY2025 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 4 grants below total $202,000, the rows itemized in this filing. The $208,500 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $6,500 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

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $20k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $182k
$66,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$7.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
STAND UP AMERICA$66,000
MOVEONORG$66,000
PUBLIC CITIZEN FOUNDATION$50,000
COALITION FOR SENSIBLE SAFEGAURDS$20,000
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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 89% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%FIRST INSTITUTIONAL BAPTIST CHURCH: $10k → 11%CITIZENS TRADE CAMPAIGN: $58k → 7%STAND UP AMERICA: $150k → 17%CENTER FOR POPULAR DEMOCRACY ACTION FUND: $60k → 20%TEXANS FOR PUBLIC JUSTICE: $8k → 10%COMMON CAUSE: $60k → 14%NORTH CAROLINA VOTERS FOR CLEAN ELECTIONS: $10k → 8%LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTER'S-CO: $10k → 12%WEST VIRGINIA CENTER ON BUDGET AND POLICY: $6k → 18%FOR WEST VIRGINIA'S FUTURE: $40k → 24%CITIZENS TRADE CAMPAIGN: $20k → 7%STAND UP AMERICA: $66k → 17%PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY: $25k → 14%WEST VIRGINIA CITIZEN ACTION GROUP: $20k → 18%PUBLIC CITIZEN FOUNDATION: $50k → 14%PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY: $15k → 14%COALITION FOR SENSIBLE SAFEGAURDS: $20k → 14%COMMON CAUSE: $15k → 14%COMMON CAUSE: $7k → 14%ISSUE ONE: $10k → 14%COMMUNICATION WORKERS: $10k → 14%ALLIANCE FOR YOUTH DBA MOVE TEXAS CIVIC FUND: $6k → 14%AMERICANS FOR FINANCIAL REFORM: $50k → 14%AMERICANS FOR FINANCIAL REFORM: $50k → 14%DEMOCRACY 21: $15k → 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
NY
PA
CO
WV
AZ
NC
DC
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.

77%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$922k · 6 repeat orgs$281k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +44% since the first grant, against -4% for those funded once.

6 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
13

Total granted

$922k
$211k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+44%
-4%

Still filing today

100%
85%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 65% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $70k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Civil RightsPublic BenefitEducationCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • MC
    MoveOnorg Civic Action
    4× · 2019–2025 · $406k · revenue +44%
  • SU
    STAND UP AMERICA INC
    2× · 2020–2025 · $216k · revenue +577% · 49% of their budget
  • CC
    COMMON CAUSE
    3× · 2019–2022 · $82k · revenue +126%

Funded once

  • CF
    CENTER FOR POPULAR DEMOCRACY ACTION FUND INC
    one grant, 2020 · $60k · revenue -78%
  • FW
    For West Virginia's Future Inc
    one grant, 2021 · $40k · revenue -88%
  • WV
    WEST VIRGINIA CITIZEN ACTION GROUP
    one grant, 2021 · $20k · 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
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
2
People's Independent Commission

Supports Measure to Remove Lawmakers Power to Set Their Own Pay

—
3
Coalition for Dc Representation in Congress Education Fund

Founded in 1998, dc vote is a national citizen engagement and advocacy organization dedicated to strengthening democracy and securing equality for all in the district of columbia.

Education
4
RepresentUs

RepresentUs is America's leading nonpartisan grassroots organization working for a government accountable to the people. We unite people from all backgrounds to defend democracy, root out corruption, mobilize action, and support campaigns…

Public Benefit
5
Issue One Action

Issue one action is uniting republicans, democrats, and independents to protect our elections and fix our political system. we are committed to free, fair, and secure elections and reducing the influence of well-financed special interests…

—
6
Secure Democracy Usa

Secure Democracy USA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works to build stronger elections, state by state.

Civil Rights
7
Common Cause Education Fund

The common cause education fund employs research, outreach, educational programming, and coalition building to increase public understanding of how our democracy works, empower citizens to hold their government accountable, and promote…

Public Benefit
8
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
9
Keystone Democracy

Keystone Democracy's goal is to ensure that all Pennsylvania elections are implemented in a safe, secure, convenient and fair manner. We work to advance pro-democracy policies by informing elected officials, civic leaders, the media, and…

—
10
All Americans Vote

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

Civil Rights
11
Democracy Works Inc

The organization's mission is to leverage web-technologies to improve civic engagement and voter education.

Civil Rights
12
American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware Inc

The organization monitors legislation that could impact civil liberties and takes the necessary action to support or oppose such legislation.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is People for the American Way; the most unlike its peers is Citizens Trade Campaign. 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

19 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. 19 of the 21 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
19/19
Grantees still filing
8/19
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MoveOnorg Civic Action: $406,000 · EducationMoveOnorg Civic ActionCENTER FOR POPULAR DEMOCRACY ACTION FUND INC: $60,000 · EducationCENTER FOR POPULAR DEMOCRACY ACTION FUND IN…Americans for Financial Reform: $100,000 · OtherAmericans for Financial ReformCOMMON CAUSE: $82,000 · OtherCOMMON CAUSEPEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY: $40,000 · OtherPEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAYFor West Virginia's Future Inc: $40,000 · OtherFor West Virginia's Future IncWEST VIRGINIA CITIZEN ACTION GROUP: $19,800 · OtherWEST VIRGINIA CITIZEN ACTION G…DEMOCRACY 21: $15,000 · Other+3 more: $27,500 · Other+3 moreSTAND UP AMERICA INC: $216,000 · Civil RightsSTAND UP AMERICA INCTHE COALITION FOR SENSIBLE SAFEGUARDS INC: $20,000 · Civil RightsTHE COALITION FOR SENSIB…League of Women Voters of Colorado: $10,000 · Civil Rights+2 more: $12,500 · Civil RightsCITIZENS TRADE CAMPAIGN: $78,000 · Community ImprovementPUBLIC CITIZEN FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 · Public BenefitNC For the People Action (formerly NC Voters for Clean Elections): $10,000 · Public BenefitISSUE ONE: $10,000 · Public BenefitWEST VIRGINIA CENTER ON BUDGET AND POLICY INC: $6,000 · Public Benefit
Education$466,000Other$324,300Civil Rights$258,500Community Improvement$78,000Public Benefit$76,000

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 budgetMoveOnorg Civic Action: $406,000 over 4y, 1.7% of budgetSTAND UP AMERICA INC: $216,000 over 2y, 49% of budgetAmericans for Financial Reform: $100,000 over 2y, 4.7% of budgetCOMMON CAUSE: $82,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetCITIZENS TRADE CAMPAIGN: $78,000 over 2y, 21% of budgetCENTER FOR POPULAR DEMOCRACY ACTION FUND INC: $60,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetPUBLIC CITIZEN FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetPEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY: $40,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetFor West Virginia's Future Inc: $40,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetTHE COALITION FOR SENSIBLE SAFEGUARDS INC: $20,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetWEST VIRGINIA CITIZEN ACTION GROUP: $19,800 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetDEMOCRACY 21: $15,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetCOMMUNICATIONS WORKERS OF AMERICA AFL-CIO CLC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLeague of Women Voters of Colorado: $10,000 over 1y, 5.2% of budgetISSUE ONE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetStand Up Alaska: $6,500 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetALLIANCE FOR YOUTH ORGANIZING: $6,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWEST VIRGINIA CENTER ON BUDGET AND POLICY INC: $6,000 over 1y, 1.1% 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.

Sixteen Thirty FundTides FoundationCenter for Community …Open Society Action F…All Hands on Deck Net…Hopewell FundNew Venture Fund
Sixteen Thirty FundDC21.5× affinity8 shared granteesties to 6 of 6Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Sixteen Thirty Fund · Tides Foundation · Center for Community Change Action · Open Society Action Fund Inc · All Hands on Deck Network Inc · Hopewell Fund · New Venture 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 Public Citizen Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Public Citizen Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%3%13%28%50%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 21 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

    Play a game based on Public Citizen’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