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The American Independent Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

The American Independent Foundation

The mission of the organization is to foster strong, independent journalism that helps create positive societal change through increased public awareness of progressive issues.

$33M
Granted FY2024still arriving
6
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$11M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its 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, FY2021 to 2024.

Public Benefit$57MEducation$1.5MArts & Culture$1.0MEnvironment$50kScience & Tech$25k
02FY2024 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k2 grants · $50k
  • $250k+4 grants · $33M
$10,100,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$13M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AMERICAN INDEPENDENT MEDIA$11,190,000
DEMOCRACY MATTERS$11,000,000
DEMOCRACY MATTERS FOUNDATION$10,100,000
MEDIA MATTERS ACTION NETWORK$1,000,000
YALE UNIVERSITY$25,000
UTAH FILM CENTER$25,000
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 (FY21–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%SUSTAINABLE MARKETS FOUNDATION: $50k → 17%AMERICAN INDEPENDENT MEDIA: $18.2M → 14%YALE UNIVERSITY: $25k → 12%UTAH FILM CENTER: $25k → 8%AMERICAN INDEPENDENT MEDIA: $11.2M → 14%DEMOCRACY MATTERS FOUNDATION: $10.1M → 14%AMERICAN INDEPENDENT MEDIA: $5.5M → 14%MEDIA MATTERS ACTION NETWORK: $1.0M → 14%MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA: $811k → 14%FRANKLIN EDUCATION FORUM: $700k → 14%DEMOCRACY MATTERS: $11.0M → 14%COUNTERACT FOUNDATION: $900k → 14%COUNTERACT FUND: $300k → 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 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
Communications Consortium Media Center

The communications consortium media center (ccmc) is a public interest media center founded in 1988 in washington, dc. it is dedicated to helping nonprofit organizations use media and new technologies as tools for policy change. the…

—
2
America's Newspapers

Providing research, education and practical information all aimed at optimizing newspapers' business operations, deepening their community engagement and enhancing the quality of their journalism.

Employment
3
CalMatters

Our team of experienced journalists, with the time and resources to dig deep, is committed to meaningfully informing Californians about the players, politics, and interests that shape the issues that affect their lives.

Civil Rights
4
American Media Institute

Inform the public by providing news

—
5
Commission On Presidential Debates

Organize general election presidential and vice-presidential debates

Civil Rights
6
Center for Media and Democracy Inc

Center for media and democracy, inc. (cmd) is an independent, non-partisan organization dedicated to investigating and publicizing the hidden influence of powerful special interests on america's media and democracy, and its impact on…

Arts & Culture
7
Press Watch

To educate journalists and the public, and foster public debate, about improving political journalism to reflect public needs and hold the powerful accountable.

—
8
Massachusetts Media Fund Inc

The massachusetts media fund dba the boston institute for nonprofit journalism supports the development and production of independent news. binj achieves its mission by: providing organizational support to community publications; running…

Arts & Culture
9
Chicago Media Project

To impact society through the powerful tools of media and film. we are a resource for uniting individuals interested in media and developing a core group of informed citizens.

Public Benefit
10
The Alliance for Media Arts Culture Inc

To facilitate collaboration, innovation, strategic growth and cultural impact for the media arts field. We are a network of networks; we embolden creative media organization and artists and connect them with the world.

Arts & Culture
11
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.

—
12
One for Democracy Action Fund

One for democracy unlocks resources to build a healthy democracy by fostering meaningful relationships between philanthropists and the democracy leaders of our time.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Media Matters for America; the most unlike its peers is Yale University. 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

11 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.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

5
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/11
Grantees still filing
8/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

AMERICAN INDEPENDENT MEDIA: $34,860,000 · Arts & CultureAMERICAN INDEPENDENT MEDIA+1 more: $25,000 · Arts & CultureDEMOCRACY MATTERS: $11,000,000 · Civil RightsDEMOCRACY MATTERSDEMOCRACY MATTERS FOUNDATION: $10,800,000 · Civil RightsDEMOCRACY MATTERS FOUNDATIONCOUNTERACT FOUNDATION: $900,000 · Civil RightsMEDIA MATTERS ACTION NETWORK: $1,000,000 · OtherCounterAct Fund: $300,000 · OtherMEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA: $810,500 · Education+1 more: $25,000 · EducationTIDES FOUNDATION: $212,000 · PhilanthropySUSTAINABLE MARKETS FOUNDATION: $50,000 · Environment
Arts & Culture$34,885,000Civil Rights$22,700,000Other$1,300,000Education$835,500Philanthropy$212,000Environment$50,000

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 budgetAMERICAN INDEPENDENT MEDIA: $34,860,000 over 3y, 98% of budgetDEMOCRACY MATTERS: $11,000,000 over 1y, 39% of budgetDEMOCRACY MATTERS FOUNDATION: $10,800,000 over 2y, 35% of budgetMEDIA MATTERS ACTION NETWORK: $1,000,000 over 1y, 26% of budgetMEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA: $810,500 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetCounterAct Fund: $300,000 over 1y, 100% of budgetTIDES FOUNDATION: $212,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSUSTAINABLE MARKETS FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUTAH FILM CENTER: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetYale University: $25,000 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.

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 set of overlaps that mostly run through this funder rather than between each other.

Ab Foundation
Ab FoundationDC13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Ab 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 The American Independent Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The American Independent Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Yale University: 12% 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 · 0–15%
typical government reliance, FY20–24
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 American Independent’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