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The Public Interest Fellowship Foundation at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

The Public Interest Fellowship Foundation

THE PUBLIC INTEREST FELLOWSHIP FOUNDATION (tpiff) draws on the legacy of that great journal of ideas and policy founded by daniel bell and irving kristol.

$864k
Granted FY2025still arriving
7
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$73k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through 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, FY2017 to 2025.

Social Science$239kInternational$120kPublic Benefit$81kPhilanthropy$70kScience & Tech$50kCommunity Improvement$27kArts & Culture$15k
02FY2025 · 7 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 7 grants below total $224,050, the rows itemized in this filing. The $864,126 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $640,076 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

  • Under $10k1 grant · $6k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $43k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $175k
$15,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$1.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HUDSON INSTITUTE INC$73,300
AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE$52,000
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN$50,000
STATE ARMOR RESEARCH$15,000
ENCOUNTER FOR CULTURE & EDUCATION INC$15,000
BURNS GROUP CONSULTING$12,500
ETHICS & PUBLIC POLICY CENTER$6,250
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 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 88% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%National Philanthropic Trust: $70k → 7%ENCOUNTER FOR CULTURE & EDUCATION INC: $15k → 17%THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN: $50k → 10%HUDSON INSTITUTE INC: $114k → 14%STATE ARMOR RESEARCH: $15k → 14%BURNS GROUP CONSULTING: $15k → 11%NATIONAL REVIEW INSTITUTE: $75k → 17%HUDSON INSTITUTE INC: $73k → 14%BURNS GROUP CONSULTING: $13k → 11%AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: $52k → 14%WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: $45k → 14%INSTITUTE FOR SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY: $35k → 14%ETHICS & PUBLIC POLICY CENTER: $6k → 14%THE ALEXANDER HAMILTON SOCIETY: $25k → 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
The International Institute for Strategic Studies - Us

To provide accurate, objective information and analysis on international strategic issues for legislators, diplomats, foreign affairs analysts, international business leaders, economists, the military, defense commentators, journalists,…

International
2
Institute for New Global Politics Inc

The Institute for New Global Politics is a California-based educational nonprofit corporation organized and operated exclusively for charitable purposes. It is an independent and nonpartisan thinktank dedicated to educating the general…

International
3
Institute of Politics Policy and History
Education
4
Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Inc

The manhattan institute is a community of scholars, journalists, activists, and civic leaders dedicated to advancing opportunity, individual liberty, and the rule of law in america and its great cities.

Public Benefit
5
Foreign Policy Research Institute

The foreign policy research institute (frpi) is dedicated to producing the highest quality scholarship and nonpartisan policy analysis focused on crucial foreign policy and national security challenges facing the united states. we educate…

International
6
Peter G Peterson Institute for International Economics

The peterson institute for international economics (piie) is an independent nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to strengthening prosperity and human welfare in the global economy through expert analysis and practical…

Social Science
7
National Institute for Public Policy Inc

The institute works as a public education organization that focuses on a wide spectrum of rapidly evolving foreign policy and international issues.

—
8
Technology Policy Institute
International
9
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
10
American-German Institute Inc

The American-German Institute is a center for policy research and scholarship dedicated to the most important political, economic, and security issues confronting Germany and the United States in the global arena. AGI anticipates…

Social Science
11
The Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis Inc

The institute performs research which has a three-fold purpose: to examine issues of u.s. foreign policy, formulate policy options and programs for submission to u.s. government agencies and dissemination to the public, and to train…

—
12
Institute for Defense Analyses

The institute for defense analyses is organized for the purpose of applied research. the institute for defense analyses provides independent and objective scientific and technological expertise to assist national security decision-makers…

Science & Tech
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Ethics and Public Policy Center Inc; the most unlike its peers is Encounter for Culture and Education. 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

10 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. 10 of the 12 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
4/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Hudson Institute Inc: $187,125 · OtherHudson Institute IncNATIONAL REVIEW INSTITUTE: $75,000 · OtherNATIONAL REVIEW INSTITUTEUNIVERSITY OF TEXAS: $50,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF TEXASBURNS GROUP CONSULTING: $27,000 · OtherBURNS GROUP CONSULTINGWASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: $45,000 · InternationalWASHINGTON INSTITUTE F…Institute For Science and International Security: $35,000 · InternationalInstitute For Science …THE ALEXANDER HAMILTON SOCIETY: $25,100 · InternationalTHE ALEXANDER HAMILTON…STATE ARMOR RESEARCH: $15,000 · InternationalSTATE ARMOR RESEARCHNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $70,000 · PhilanthropyNATIONAL PHIL…AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH: $52,000 · Social ScienceAMERICAN …ENCOUNTER FOR CULTURE AND EDUCATION: $15,000 · Arts & CultureETHICS AND PUBLIC POLICY CENTER INC: $6,250 · Public Benefit
Other$339,125International$120,100Philanthropy$70,000Social Science$52,000Arts & Culture$15,000Public Benefit$6,250

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 budgetHudson Institute Inc: $187,125 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $70,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH: $52,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: $45,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetInstitute For Science and International Security: $35,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetTHE ALEXANDER HAMILTON SOCIETY: $25,100 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetETHICS AND PUBLIC POLICY CENTER INC: $6,250 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Public Interest Fellowship Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Public Interest Fellowship Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
    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.
    04Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to The Public Interest Fellowship Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Public Interest Fellowship Foundation 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 12 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 Interest Fellowship’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