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Witherspoon Institute Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Witherspoon Institute Inc

Research, education, and public awareness of the political, moral and philosophical principles of free and democratic societies

$132k
Granted FY2025still arriving
1
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$50k
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 2025.

Education$732kScience & Tech$658kReligion$418kHealth$397kSocial Science$288kCommunity Improvement$275kArts & Culture$20k
02FY2025 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 1 grants below total $50,000, the rows itemized in this filing. The $131,500 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $81,500 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.
$50,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$15M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Aquinas Inst for CatholicLife$50,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY17–19, $23k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%Scala Foundation: $10k → 11%Scala Foundation: $8k → 11%Scala Foundation: $5k → 11%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

IL
NY
MA
PA
NJ
CA
DE
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.

82%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.2M · 9 repeat orgs$458k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +25% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

9 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2025, 8 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
7

Total granted

$2.2M
$458k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+25%
0%

Still filing today

78%
43%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationReligionHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementScience & TechOther
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

  • AI
    AUSTIN INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF FAMILY AND CULTURE
    4× · 2018–2023 · $397k · revenue +17% · 40% of their budget
  • TA
    The Aquinas Institute for Catholic Life at Princeton University Inc
    7× · 2019–2025 · $383k · revenue ×25 · 67% of their budget
  • HP
    HYDE PARK INSTITUTE
    2× · 2017–2018 · $280k · revenue +25%

Funded once

  • TM
    The Morningside Institute Incgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $250k · revenue +175% · 95% of their budget
  • TC
    THE CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY
    one grant, 2021 · $150k · revenue -23%
  • TW
    THE WILLIAM J SEYMOUR INSTITUTE FOR BLACK CHURCH AND POLICY STUDIES INC
    one grant, 2017 · $20k · revenue -13%
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
Collegium Institute

Collegium Institute is a Catholic intellectual apostolate that fosters the Catholic intellectual tradition within the University of Pennsylvania community and within the greater region and secular academia. (Continued on Sch. O)

—
2
Center of Theological Inquiry

The Center of Theological Inquiry is an independent research institution with an international visiting scholar program which convenes researchers in an ideal setting for interdisciplinary inquiries where theology casts light on global…

Religion
3
The Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies

The institute's mission is to conduct research on key issues facing society to help both the church and society deal thoughtfully with the major issues they face globally. the institute also sponsors and conducts research and scholarship…

Religion
4
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
5
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
6
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
7
Hillsdale College

Hillsdale college is a private liberal arts college with approximately 1,500 students. founded in 1844, the college remains, in the words of its articles of association, "grateful to god for the inestimable blessings resulting from the…

Education
8
The Center for the Study of Great Ideas

Philosophical education

Arts & Culture
9
Marquette University

As a Catholic, Jesuit university our mission is to search for truth, discover shareknowledge, foster personal professional excellence, promote a life of faith and developleadership expressed in service to others. See Schedule O.

Education
10
The Law & Humanities Institute
—
11
Hampden-Sydney College

Since 1775, the mission of Hampden-Sydney College has been to form good men and good citizens in an atmosphere of sound learning.

Education
12
Lumen Christi Institute

To make the catholic intellectual tradition a vital part of the culture of universities. to enrich academic communities at the university of chicago, across the nation, and the world with the insights of catholic thought. to dialogue with…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The William J Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies Inc; the most unlike its peers is Oakland Service Ministries. 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

12 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. 12 of the 17 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.

4
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/12
Grantees still filing
8/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

HYDE PARK INSTITUTE: $280,000 · EducationHYDE PARK INSTITUTEThe Morningside Institute Inc: $250,000 · EducationThe Morningside Institute IncTHE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA: $210,000 · EducationTHE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICAPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $175,000 · EducationPresident and Fellows of Harvard CollegeAmerican Academy of Sciences and Letters Inc: $124,461 · EducationAmerican Academy of Sciences and Letters I…Center for Study of Technology: $442,500 · OtherCenter for Study of TechnologyAUSTIN INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF FAMILY AND CULTURE: $397,004 · OtherAUSTIN INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF FA…+5 more: $58,000 · Other+5 moreThe Aquinas Institute for Catholic Life at Princeton University Inc: $383,000 · ReligionThe Aquinas Inst…THE WILLIAM J SEYMOUR INSTITUTE FOR BLACK CHURCH AND POLICY STUDIES INC: $20,000 · ReligionZEPHYR INSTITUTE INC: $275,000 · Community ImprovementZEPHYR INST…THE CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY: $150,000 · Science & TechScala Foundation A NJ Nonprofit Corporation: $22,500 · Human Services
Education$1,039,461Other$897,504Religion$403,000Community Improvement$275,000Science & Tech$150,000Human Services$22,500

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 budgetAUSTIN INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF FAMILY AND CULTURE: $397,004 over 4y, 40% of budgetThe Aquinas Institute for Catholic Life at Princeton University Inc: $383,000 over 7y, 67% of budgetZEPHYR INSTITUTE INC: $275,000 over 2y, 43% of budgetThe Morningside Institute Inc: $250,000 over 1y, 95% of budgetTHE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA: $210,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $175,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY: $150,000 over 1y, 20% of budgetAmerican Academy of Sciences and Letters Inc: $124,461 over 2y, 5.0% of budgetScala Foundation A NJ Nonprofit Corporation: $22,500 over 3y, 7.7% of budgetTHE WILLIAM J SEYMOUR INSTITUTE FOR BLACK CHURCH AND POLICY STUDIES INC: $20,000 over 1y, 5.1% of budgetOAKLAND SERVICE MINISTRIES: $10,000 over 1y, 13% 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.

Foundation For Excell…Knights of Columbus C…National Philanthropi…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …
Foundation For Excellence in Higher EducationNJ17.9× affinity6 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Foundation For Excellence in Higher Education · Knights of Columbus Charitable Fund Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift 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 Witherspoon Institute Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Witherspoon Institute Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get 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, FY20–25
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 17 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

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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