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Virginia · Nonprofit

AMERICAN PRESS INSTITUTE INC

AMERICAN PRESS INSTITUTE INC (Virginia) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,846,755 to it, the largest being Democracy Fund Inc ($2,175,230). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$10M
Funders on record
17
Grants received
$5.8M
Net assets
$49M
6/17 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 21%
01What it does

What American Press Institute Inc does

Mission

American press institute acts as a scout on the frontier of technology and audience behavior to identify where change is occurring and helps news organizations learn how to implement and scale that change successfully so they have a sustainable future.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Metrics for news (aka content strategy): api's proprietary program that helps publishers build an empirical, data-informed news strategy through custom-built content analysis software, new journalism metrics and innovative audience surveys.

    $895,215 spent$456,277 earned by the program
    33% of program spending

  2. Table stakes: table stakes is a years-long innovative learning program facilitated by api that helps news organizations transform their journalism and business through intensive change-management training for news leaders.

    $646,261 spentof which $27,000 as grants
    24% of program spending

  3. Trusting news project: the trusting news project aims to demystify trust in news and empower journalists to demonstrate credibility and actively earn trust. In a continual cycle of research, learning and sharing with the industry, they explore how to incorporate trust-building into journalism's standards and practices.

    $361,099 spentof which $191,768 as grants$37,426 earned by the program
    13% of program spending

  4. Education program and summits

    $320,540 spent$261,141 earned by the program
    12% of program spending

  5. Pitt dei

    $227,044 spent
    8% of program spending

  6. Tw charity

    $34,921 spent
    1% of program spending

  7. Beyond print

    $25,575 spent
    1% of program spending

  8. Diversity

    $3,284 spent
    0% of program spending

  9. Other programs

    $214,241 spentof which $249,355 as grants
    8% of program spending

The 9 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,728,180.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($2.4M) Expenses 100 ($3.3M) Net assets 100 ($46M)2018 Revenue 396 ($9.6M) Expenses 94 ($3.1M) Net assets 89 ($41M)2019 Revenue 124 ($3.0M) Expenses 118 ($3.9M) Net assets 101 ($47M)2020 Revenue 533 ($13M) Expenses 207 ($6.9M) Net assets 111 ($51M)2021 Revenue 217 ($5.3M) Expenses 146 ($4.9M) Net assets 117 ($54M)2022 Revenue 165 ($4.0M) Expenses 174 ($5.8M) Net assets 92 ($43M)2023 Revenue 146 ($3.5M) Expenses 169 ($5.6M) Net assets 100 ($46M)2024 Revenue 422 ($10M) Expenses 154 ($5.1M) Net assets 105 ($49M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (422)Expenses (154)Net assets (105)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $56M to $44M (−21%).

$48M
$42M
$48M
$53M
$56M
$44M
$48M
$51M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

13% of AMERICAN PRESS INSTITUTE INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (58% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 812 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$914k
’17
$6.5M
’18
−$939k
’19
$6.0M
’20
$379k
’21
−$1.8M
’22
−$2.1M
’23
$5.1M
’24
5.6
months of
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

Barbara W Wall

Chair

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed2021222320202322
Joined·+5+3+3+3+6+8+2
No longer listed·4226653
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $350k → $200k.

Funder
'17
'18
'19
'20
'21
'22
'23
'24*
'25*
total
Mercatus Center Incunclassified
$20k
funders
2
4
4
6
1
11
2
2
1

4 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 32% 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: $3.1M from 7 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Lenfest Institute for Journalism Special Asset Fund of Tpf). These are real filings, and they are not money AMERICAN PRESS INSTITUTE INC raised.

From the IRS filings of AMERICAN PRESS INSTITUTE 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 PRESS INSTITUTE INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

32% 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 PRESS INSTITUTE INC.

37%
largest funder
68%
top three
~5
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 71% · 2018 71% · 2019 53% · 2020 43% · 2021 100% · 2022 18% · 2023 50% — 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

22% of AMERICAN PRESS INSTITUTE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 35% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

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

AMERICAN PRESS INSTITUTE INC draws 99% of its grant income from funders outside Virginia, across 8 states in all.

IL
NY
OH
PA
CA
VA
DC
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’22
’23
Virginia out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.9M 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

AMERICAN PRESS INSTITUTE INC runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 772 arts & culture nonprofits its size.

Operating margin50% · top quartile
Months of reserve5.6mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)23% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 772 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024

Organizations like AMERICAN PRESS INSTITUTE 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 Virginia

National Policing Institute87%National Center for Policing Innovation85%Logistics Management Institute84%Associated Universities Inc84%American Physical Therapy Association84%National Institute for Public Policy Inc83%Afp Foundation for Philanthropy83%American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences83%

Nationally

National Policing Institute87%Migration Policy Institute87%American Petroleum Institute87%Minnesota News Media Institute Inc87%The American Antitrust Institute Inc86%National Center for Family Philanthropy Inc86%Institute for Nonprofit Practice Inc86%The Aspen Institute Inc86%
05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

53% of spending goes to programs.

Program 53%Management 47%Fundraising 0%

Governance

14
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention–Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

VA

Part of a family of 3 related entities

  • News Media Alliance · exempt
  • Nma Communications Bureau Inc · corp_trust
  • Cbi Media LLC · corp_trust

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AMERICAN PRESS INSTITUTE 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 PRESS INSTITUTE INC?
AMERICAN PRESS INSTITUTE INC (Virginia) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,846,755 to it, the largest being Democracy Fund Inc ($2,175,230). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does AMERICAN PRESS INSTITUTE INC have?
IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $5,846,755 in grants to AMERICAN PRESS INSTITUTE INC, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of AMERICAN PRESS INSTITUTE INC?
Democracy Fund Inc is the largest funder on record, with $2,175,230 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like AMERICAN PRESS INSTITUTE INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. 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 17 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