Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
BETTER MARKETS INC
BETTER MARKETS INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $25,154,249 to it, the largest being GREATER WASHINGTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($16,604,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 93% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.3M
- Funders on record
- 16
- Grants received
- $25M
- Net assets
- $2.7M
What Better Markets Inc does
Mission
To promote the public interest in the domestic and global capital and commodity markets, with an initial primary focus on the rulemaking arising from the dodd-frank wall street reform and consumer protection act as well as related global financial regulation.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Study, research, analyze and discuss (at conferences and otherwise) how financial markets work, the role of markets, and the role of regulations in the financial system within the us and globally. Writing and filing comment letters on proposed rules and meeting with regulators and others in connection with proposed rules and/or future proposed and/or final rules regarding financial reform and financial regulation.
$4,008,039 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $4,008,039.
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 2021 to 2022, from $2.4M to $3.5M (+43%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2021 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of BETTER MARKETS INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 of the last 9 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
Dennis M Kelleher
President & CEO
Board chair
Michael W Masters
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $3.1M → $3.4M.
8 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 93% 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 BETTER MARKETS 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
BETTER MARKETS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 66% of grant income and the top three 95%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
93% 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 BETTER MARKETS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 97% · 2018 100% · 2019 82% · 2020 85% · 2021 65% · 2022 46% · 2023 45% — 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
38% of BETTER MARKETS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 38% 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
93% of BETTER MARKETS 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 $1.7M that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 5 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $23M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
BETTER MARKETS INC is better cushioned than half of the 97 social science nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 97 social science nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like BETTER MARKETS 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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BETTER MARKETS 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 BETTER MARKETS INC?
- BETTER MARKETS INC (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $25,154,249 to it, the largest being GREATER WASHINGTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($16,604,000). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 93% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BETTER MARKETS INC have?
- IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $25,154,249 in grants to BETTER MARKETS INC, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BETTER MARKETS INC?
- GREATER WASHINGTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $16,604,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BETTER MARKETS INC 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.
Play a game about who funds Better Markets →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 16 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