Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION
THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 204 organizations whose IRS filings report $87,384,208 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($23,649,156). 75 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 71% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $59M
- Funders on record
- 204
- Grants received
- $87M
- Net assets
- $13M
What The American Independent Foundation does
Mission
The mission of the organization is to foster strong, independent journalism that helps create positive societal change through increased public awareness of progressive issues.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The organization funds factual journalism that arms the public with the truths needed to hold individuals and groups accountable for actions or policies that run counter to progressive values.
$13,575,451 spentof which $8,172,500 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $13,575,451.
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 $8.1M to $13M (+66%).
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.
100% of THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (25% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Board chair
David Bennahum
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 59 funders, grant income rose $400k → $14M.
54 of 204 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 71% 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: $730k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Ab Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 204 funders by total. 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
THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
78% 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 THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 34% · 2020 28% · 2021 18% · 2022 26% · 2023 44% — 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
40% of THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 37% 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
71% of THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION'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 $25M that is directly attributable, 83% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 28 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $62M arriving through sponsors registered in 22 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
THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION has grown faster than three-quarters of the 149 unclassified nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 149 unclassified nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT 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
95% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 4 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT 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 THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION?
- THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 204 organizations whose IRS filings report $87,384,208 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($23,649,156). 75 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 71% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 204 organizations giving $87,384,208 in grants to THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION, 75 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $23,649,156 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT 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 204 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing