Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
AAUP FOUNDATION
AAUP FOUNDATION (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $842,145 to it, the largest being ACADEMIC FREEDOM LECTURE FUND ($679,254). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $741k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $842k
- Net assets
- $1.1M
What Aaup Foundation does
Mission
The purpose of the Aaup Foundation is to establish and support the principles of academic freedom and the quality of higher education in a free and democratic society.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The academic freedom program supports projects that safeguard academic freedom to encourage free inquiry, promote the expansion of knowledge, and create an environment in which learning and research can flourish, thereby enhancing the quality of higher education and benefiting society.
$8,250 spentof which $8,250 as grants36% of program spendingThe other grants program consists of several restrictively purposed funds. The mary burgan fund subsidizes travel by aaup staff or members to conferences relevant to aaup issues. The konheim travel fund helps chapters send members to the aaup biennial conference. The legal defense fund supports faculty members in cases at the trial and appellate levels that implicate important legal rights, involve legal issues of national significance in higher education, and affect the careers of academics. And the contingent faculty fund supports work on issues relating to contingent faculty appointments through research, publication, leadership development, and other assistance to faculty when need arises.
$13,673 spentof which $13,673 as grants60% of program spendingCommunicationthe communications program supports disseminating information to the public about the organization's mission and supported funds, through online communications and media outlets.
$983 spent4% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $22,906.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $704k to $1.4M (+104%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
97% of AAUP FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income fell $150k → $2k.
2 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 1% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $758k from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest American Association of University Professors). These are real filings, and they are not money AAUP FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of AAUP FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
AAUP FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 81% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
82% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund AAUP FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 93% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Where its funders are
AAUP FOUNDATION draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $11k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
AAUP FOUNDATION has grown faster than half of the 22,812 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 22,812 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like AAUP FOUNDATION
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
60% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 29 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- American Association of University Professors · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AAUP FOUNDATION: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds AAUP FOUNDATION?
- AAUP FOUNDATION (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $842,145 to it, the largest being ACADEMIC FREEDOM LECTURE FUND ($679,254). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does AAUP FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $842,145 in grants to AAUP FOUNDATION, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AAUP FOUNDATION?
- ACADEMIC FREEDOM LECTURE FUND is the largest funder on record, with $679,254 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AAUP FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 5 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing