New York · Nonprofit
Braver AngelsInc
Braver AngelsInc (New York) receives grants from 104 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,183,836 to it, the largest being JOHN E FETZER INSTITUTE INC ($1,880,000). 51 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $5.7M
- Funders on record
- 104
- Grants received
- $14M
- Net assets
- $2.1M
What Braver AngelsInc does
Mission
Founded in 1987, Braver Angels, is a private, nonpartisan organization whose mission is to study and strengthen civil society. As part of its mission, the main activity is focused on the reduction of social polarization the process of society separating into mutually antagonistic groups that increasingly do not trust or understand one another. Polarization is a main reason why U.S. public life is so often dysfunctional; and is an important threat to the vitality of U.S. civil society. Braver Angels work is rooted in grassroots organizing. From the grassroots, the organization leverages its programs to impact community life and American institutions. Specifically, Braver Angels efforts are focused on Grassroots work; Academia; Media and Politics & Government. Braver Angels is a not for profit organization that is exempt from income taxes under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is classified by the Internal Revenue Service as other than a private foundation.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Bridging Social Divides - The mission of Braver Angels is to study and strengthen U.S. civil society, with a particular focus currently on analyzing and reducing societal and political polarization in the United States. Its flagship initiative, Braver Angels, aims to study and propose ways in which Americans who disagree on social and political issues can come together in civil discourse to clarify disagreements, reduce stereotyped thinking, and identify possible areas of common ground.
$3,101,231 spent$235,006 earned by the program83% of program spendingPublic Outreach - Braver Angels staff frequently engage in public speaking and writing on issues connected to societal polarization and organize community workshops and other activities at the level of U.S. civil society that bring together citizens with opposing views to seek better mutual understanding and common ground.
$636,395 spent17% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,737,626.
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 2020 to 2021, from $93k to $1.0M (+1018%).
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 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of Braver AngelsInc’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
David Blankenhorn
Pres/Exec Dir
Board chair
JoAnn Luehring Esq
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 41 funders, grant income rose $120k → $3.0M.
22 of 104 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 38% 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: $250k from one payer (an institutional transfer, not a grant programme, largest Emmet Family Charitable Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money Braver AngelsInc raised.
From the IRS filings of Braver AngelsInc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 104 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
Braver AngelsInc has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 13% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
40% 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 Braver AngelsInc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 83% · 2018 81% · 2019 31% · 2020 50% · 2021 23% · 2022 57% · 2023 23% — 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
35% of Braver AngelsInc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 49% 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
Braver AngelsInc draws 91% of its grant income from funders outside New York, across 27 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 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
Braver AngelsInc has grown faster than three-quarters of the 11,263 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,263 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like Braver AngelsInc
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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Braver AngelsInc: 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 Braver AngelsInc?
- Braver AngelsInc (New York) receives grants from 104 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,183,836 to it, the largest being JOHN E FETZER INSTITUTE INC ($1,880,000). 51 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Braver AngelsInc have?
- IRS filings report 104 organizations giving $14,183,836 in grants to Braver AngelsInc, 51 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Braver AngelsInc?
- JOHN E FETZER INSTITUTE INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,880,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Braver AngelsInc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 Braver AngelsInc →
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 104 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