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The Policy Academies Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

The Policy Academies Inc

The Policy Academies uses its influence to open career pathways at leading policy institutions, create opportunities, build networks, and foster communities of support.

$374k
Granted FY2024still arriving
10
Grants FY2024still arriving
6
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Social Science$525kScience & Tech$253kEducation$173kEmployment$130kCommunity Improvement$105kArts & Culture$100kPhilanthropy$51kCivil Rights$45kOther$0
02FY2024 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 10 grants below total $346,000, the rows itemized in this filing. The $374,343 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $28,343 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

  • $10k–50k7 grants · $120k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $226k
$20,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$1.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Festival of the Diaspora Inc$100,000
MDRC$75,000
Russell Sage Foundation$51,000
The Regents of the University of California$25,000
St Johns University NY$20,000
University of Maryland College Park$20,000
New York University$20,000
Northeastern University$15,000
The Story of Our Schools$10,000
Texas State University- San Marcos$10,000
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 (FY20–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 79% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%Northeastern University: $15k → 16%Social Policy Analytics: $42k → 22%REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $18k → 10%The Regents of the University of California: $25k → 14%St Johns University NY: $20k → 13%New York University: $20k → 17%LIGHTHOUSE OF HOPE OUTREACH AND RESOURCE CENTER: $5k → 20%Texas State University- San Marcos: $10k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN: $19k → 10%The Aspen Institute: $200k → 14%Nemours Children's Health: $18k → 14%Indiana University: $58k → 18%Howard University - Ronald W Walters Leadership and Public Policy: $65k → 34%Festival of the Diaspora Inc: $100k → 8%University of Maryland College Park: $20k → 11%Northeastern University: $15k → 16%Legally BLK Fund: $30k → 17%The University of Texas at Austin: $110k → 10%The Story of Our Schools: $23k → 14%Russell Sage Foundation: $51k → 17%THE STORY OF OUR SCHOOLS: $14k → 14%Russell Sage Foundation: $40k → 17%The Story of Our Schools: $10k → 14%THE CENTURY FOUNDATION: $30k → 17%National Academy Of Social Insurance: $118k → 14%THE CENTURY FOUNDATION: $15k → 17%National Academy Of Social Insurance: $100k → 14%DC Fiscal Policy Institute Inc: $105k → 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

NY
MA
IN
PA
CA
MD
DC
MS
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.

51%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$731k · 8 repeat orgs$693k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +22% since the first grant, against +22% for those funded once.

8 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
8

Total granted

$731k
$523k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+22%
+22%

Still filing today

75%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 51% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $170k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
EducationHealthSocial ScienceCommunity ImprovementEmploymentCivil RightsOther
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

  • NA
    NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SOCIAL INSURANCE
    2× · 2022–2023 · $218k · revenue +49%
  • MDRC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $130k · revenue +6%
  • TC
    THE CENTURY FOUNDATION INC
    2× · 2020–2021 · $45k · revenue +27%

Funded once

  • THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INCgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $200k · revenue +91%
  • DF
    DC FISCAL POLICY INSTITUTE INCgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $105k · revenue +53%
  • NC
    Natl Conf of Black Political Scientists
    one grant, 2023 · $65k · revenue -32% · 26% of their budget
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
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
2
William Marsh Rice University

As a leading research university with a distinctive commitment to undergraduate education, Rice University aspires to path breaking research, unsurpassed teaching, and contributions to the betterment of our world. It seeks to fulfill this…

Education
3
Albright College

As a diverse community of learners, we cultivate integrity, curiosity, connection and resilience.

Education
4
The Brookings Institution

The brookings institution (brookings) is a nonprofit public policy organization that conducts in-depth, independent research that leads to new ideas for solving problems facing society at the local, national, and global level.…

Social Science
5
Drexel University

Drexel university fulfills its founder's vision of preparing each new generation of students for productive professional and civic lives while also focusing its collective expertise on solving society's greatest problems. drexel is an…

Education
6
Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania

The trustees of the university of pennsylvania (the "university") sees itself as having a public service mission. in such regard, the university aims to provide a rich and diverse educational environment for its students; to pioneer…

Education
7
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
8
Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

We educate the next generation of leaders to improve the health of our society.

Education
9
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
10
National Science and Technology Medals Foundation Inc

The nstmf's mission is to build inclusive stem communities across the united states. fundamental to these communities are the significant, inspirational connections we foster between the individuals who have received national recognition…

—
11
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
12
University of Chicago

The mission of the university of chicago has been to sustain at the highest level of excellence, the communication of knowledge, the creation of knowledge and the fostering of a dynamic community of scholars and students.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Aspen Institute Inc; the most unlike its peers is Lighthouse of Hope Outreach and Resourse 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

13 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. 13 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/13
Grantees still filing
8/13
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS: $128,500 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF TEXASFestival of the Diaspora Inc: $100,000 · OtherFestival of the Diaspora IncRUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION: $91,000 · OtherRUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATIONIndiana University School of Medicine: $58,374 · OtherIndiana University School of MedicineREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $42,500 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIASocial Policy Analytics: $42,174 · OtherSocial Policy AnalyticsLEGALLY BLK FUND INC: $30,000 · OtherLEGALLY BLK FUND INCUNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK: $20,000 · Other+1 more: $10,000 · OtherTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $200,000 · Social ScienceTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE I…Natl Conf of Black Political Scientists: $65,000 · Social ScienceNatl Conf of Black Po…NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SOCIAL INSURANCE: $217,500 · HealthNATIONAL ACADEMY O…THE NEMOURS FOUNDATION: $17,826 · HealthTHE NEMOURS FOUNDA…MDRC: $130,000 · EmploymentMDRCStory of Our Schools: $46,500 · EducationStory of …NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $30,000 · EducationNORTHEAST…New York University: $20,000 · EducationNew York …ST JOHN'S UNIVERSITY NEW YORK: $20,000 · EducationST JOHN'S…DC FISCAL POLICY INSTITUTE INC: $105,000 · Community ImprovementTHE CENTURY FOUNDATION INC: $45,000 · Civil RightsLIGHTHOUSE OF HOPE OUTREACH AND RESOURSE CENTER: $5,000 · Religion
Other$522,548Social Science$265,000Health$235,326Employment$130,000Education$116,500Community Improvement$105,000Civil Rights$45,000Religion$5,000

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 budgetNATIONAL ACADEMY OF SOCIAL INSURANCE: $217,500 over 2y, 9.9% of budgetTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $200,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMDRC: $130,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetDC FISCAL POLICY INSTITUTE INC: $105,000 over 1y, 5.9% of budgetRUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION: $91,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetNatl Conf of Black Political Scientists: $65,000 over 1y, 26% of budgetTHE CENTURY FOUNDATION INC: $45,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetNORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNew York University: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetST JOHN'S UNIVERSITY NEW YORK: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NEMOURS FOUNDATION: $17,826 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLIGHTHOUSE OF HOPE OUTREACH AND RESOURSE CENTER: $5,000 over 1y, 43% 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.

The Ford FoundationThe Robert Wood Johns…
The Ford FoundationNY13× affinity4 shared granteesties to 1 of 1Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Ford Foundation · The Robert Wood Johnson 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 Policy Academies Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Policy Academies Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • Northeastern University: 7% of income from government
  • The Nemours Foundation: 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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Policy Academies Inc?

Find your warmest path to The Policy Academies Inc through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Policy Academies’ 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