Arizona · Nonprofit
BARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH
BARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH (Arizona) receives grants from 139 organizations whose IRS filings report $25,633,350 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($3,445,500). 87 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $13M
- Funders on record
- 139
- Grants received
- $26M
- Net assets
- $44M
What Barry Goldwater Institute for Public Policy Research does
Mission
Through research, investigations, strategic litigation, testimony, advocacy, and education, the goldwater institute advances public policy and a rule of law under which individuals can shape their own destinies as free men and women. We help citizens understand and adopt policies that sustain and restore economic liberty, educational freedom, personal responsibility, and constitutional limits on government power consistent with the founding principles of our constitutional republic. When government oversteps its proper bounds, the goldwater institute uses public interest litigation to enforce individual rights and constraints on government power guaranteed by our state and federal constitutions.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Policy analysis, research and education, external affairs: the goldwater institute conducts scholarly research and in-depth analysis of state-level public policy issues and communicates that research to the public. Our primary areas of research include constitutional law, education reform, and healthcare policy. In 2024, we delivered 80 public speeches, distributed 8 policy reports, and testified regularly before legislative committees. In 2024, we had 50 victories, which included policies adopted by state legislatures nationwide and final direct litigation victories. Goldwater's work safeguards patients' right to try cutting-edge, individualized treatments (the institute's original right to try became law in 41 states before being signed into federal law, and 15 states have already adopted the institute's expansion). Other victories include state laws that: allow workers licensed in one state to continue working when they move to a new state, without having to spend time and money getting another license to do the same job (this reform is law in over half the states and in washington, d.c.); empower families with greater educational options that fit their children's unique needs…
$3,436,394 spent$1,437 earned by the program51% of program spendingPublic interest litigation: the goldwater institute litigates constitutional issues of concern to the public, particularly under the state constitutions, on behalf of americans who would not be in a position to defend against the heavy hand of government without assistance or expertise. We defend taxpayer and property rights, free speech and free enterprise, and educational choice. We enforce constitutional limits on government power. Our cases seek to set broad legal precedents to protect the freedoms of our clients and all americans. The goldwater institute also manages a successful "litigation by letterhead" effort, where we induce government to cease unlawful actions by providing them with information by letter, without having to go to court. In 2024, we had 41 active lawsuits, and we advanced cutting-edge legal scholarship in the courts by participating as amicus curiae ("friend of the court") in 45 cases. We won 21 legal victories through direct litigation and by filing amicus briefs.
$1,926,796 spent$379,882 earned by the program29% of program spendingCommunications: in 2024, the goldwater institute continued to capture national media attention with interviews and news reports about its successful efforts to defend individual liberties. The goldwater institute's media relations efforts are built on a multi-level strategic approach that harnesses the power of its in-house digital platforms, the reach of traditional media, and the virality of social media to reach audiences across the country. The results are seen by countless americans on the pages of the nation's most notable newspapers and most-watched news networks. Goldwater institute experts and clients published 87 op-eds and letters to the editor in 2024, in outlets that included the wall street journal, fox news, national review, the washington times, the washington examiner, the hill, usa today, the orange county register, the tennessean, the arizona republic, and the arizona capitol times, whose combined online circulation exceeds 180 million readers per month. Our experts were also a regular presence on national cable tv news networks, nationally syndicated radio shows, and local broadcast tv and radio, sharing goldwater's work with an even wider audience. All told,…
$1,373,127 spent20% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,736,317.
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 2022 to 2023, from $14M to $39M (+181%).
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.
90% of BARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
Chief executive
Victor Riches
President/CEO
Board chair
Eric Crown
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 36 funders to 63 funders, grant income rose $962k → $3.8M.
16 of 139 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 47% 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 BARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 139 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
BARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 13% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
60% 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 BARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 21% · 2018 26% · 2019 20% · 2020 26% · 2021 16% · 2022 17% · 2023 17% — 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
51% of BARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
BARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH draws 83% of its grant income from funders outside Arizona, across 28 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $12M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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
BARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 270 public benefit nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 270 public benefit nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like BARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH
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 Arizona
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
55%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 35 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Goldwater Institute Holding Company LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH: 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 BARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH?
- BARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH (Arizona) receives grants from 139 organizations whose IRS filings report $25,633,350 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($3,445,500). 87 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH have?
- IRS filings report 139 organizations giving $25,633,350 in grants to BARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH, 87 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $3,445,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Arizona. 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 139 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