California · Nonprofit
American Governance Foundation Inc
American Governance Foundation Inc (California) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $911,974 to it, the largest being Donors Trust Inc ($375,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 88% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $334k
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $912k
- Net assets
- $279k
What American Governance Foundation Inc does
Mission
To study and promote positive reform of American public institutions. To this end we undertake public interest research journalism and public media especially via Palladium Magazine convene meetings workshops and community events.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Palladium Magazine Palladium Magazine explores the future of governance and society through international journalism, long-form analysis, and social philosophy. In 2023, we continued publishing a quarterly print newsletter, which collects the best articles on key themes and updates stakeholders on our research and analysis. 2023 print editions included Political Outcomes, Cultural Excellence, Social Apocalypse, and Silicon Nemesis. New long-form articles are published on our website each week. All of our articles were made available to the public online without paywalls or advertisements. We have been cited by prestigious governmental and nongovernmental fora including The State Department, Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, and The New York Times. 2023 saw continued growth of the quality of our ideas and of our audience.
$661,497 spent73% of program spendingCenter for Strategic Translation Launched in 2022, The Center for Strategic Translation provides statemen and scholars with the tools needed to interpret the Chines Party-State of today while training a new generation of China specialists with the skills needed to guide our relations with the China of tomorrow. The Center meets this need through initiatives in translation and education. The Center locates, translates, and annotates documents of historic or strategic value that are currently only available in Chinese. Our Introductory Essays, Glossaries, and Commentaries are designed to make these materials accessible and understandable to statesmen and scholars with no special expertise in Chinese politics or the Chinese language.
$172,176 spent19% of program spendingRefactoring American Statecraft This project studies Americas role in the world and analyzes longterm U.S. foreign policy and strategy from first principles with the goal of building capacity in critical areas of statecraft. To better understand these questions of grand strategy, the project convenes periodic meetings, workshops, and studies with scholars, policymakers, and stakeholders to address critical questions of great power competition, emerging technology, and energy security, among other topics.
$56,886 spent6% of program spendingOther program services 4:
$17,669 spent2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $908,228.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 2022 to 2023, from $1.2M to $504k (−59%).
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 American Governance Foundation Inc’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (76% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 7 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 7 funders, grant income rose $75k → $251k.
5 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 88% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of American Governance Foundation Inc’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
American Governance Foundation Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 77%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
90% 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 American Governance Foundation Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 98% · 2022 77% · 2023 40% — 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.
How long its funders stay
0% of American Governance Foundation Inc's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 25% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
88% of American Governance Foundation Inc's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $112k that is directly attributable, 69% of it comes from funders outside California, across 7 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $800k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
American Governance Foundation Inc is better cushioned than half of the 297 social science nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 297 social science nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like American Governance Foundation Inc
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
62%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for American Governance Foundation Inc: 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 American Governance Foundation Inc?
- American Governance Foundation Inc (California) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $911,974 to it, the largest being Donors Trust Inc ($375,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 88% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does American Governance Foundation Inc have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $911,974 in grants to American Governance Foundation Inc, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of American Governance Foundation Inc?
- Donors Trust Inc is the largest funder on record, with $375,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like American Governance Foundation Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds American Governance →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 12 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