Virginia · Nonprofit
CENTER FOR AMERICAN IDEAS
CENTER FOR AMERICAN IDEAS (Virginia) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,510,000 to it, the largest being CAROLINA PARTNERSHIP FOR REFORM INC ($1,085,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $5.4M
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $1.5M
- Net assets
- $124k
What Center for American Ideas does
Mission
The Center for American Ideas (cfai) is dedicated to the promotion of policy solutions that advance economic opportunities for american innovators and entrepreneurs. Our purpose is to identify and educate both elected officials and citizens about ideas that advance and enhance prosperity through personal empowerment and limited government.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
In 2024, the cfai spent the majority of its expenditures on policy events, survey research and outgoing contributions in furtherance of its mission.
$6,058,469 spentof which $6,051,000 as grants$385 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $6,058,469.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2021, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2021, 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 $1.1M to $133k (−88%).
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 CENTER FOR AMERICAN IDEAS’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 4 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 Avella
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2021 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income rose $75k → $510k.
Left out of every figure on this page: $2.0M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Gopac Education Fund Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money CENTER FOR AMERICAN IDEAS raised.
From the IRS filings of CENTER FOR AMERICAN IDEAS’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
CENTER FOR AMERICAN IDEAS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 72% of grant income and the top three 92%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 CENTER FOR AMERICAN IDEAS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2021 67% · 2022 33% · 2023 95% — growing more concentrated.
“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.
Where its funders are
CENTER FOR AMERICAN IDEAS draws 98% of its grant income from funders outside Virginia, across 5 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. 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
CENTER FOR AMERICAN IDEAS has grown faster than three-quarters of the 1,003 public benefit nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,003 public benefit nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like CENTER FOR AMERICAN IDEAS
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
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
95% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CENTER FOR AMERICAN IDEAS: 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 CENTER FOR AMERICAN IDEAS?
- CENTER FOR AMERICAN IDEAS (Virginia) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,510,000 to it, the largest being CAROLINA PARTNERSHIP FOR REFORM INC ($1,085,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CENTER FOR AMERICAN IDEAS have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $1,510,000 in grants to CENTER FOR AMERICAN IDEAS, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CENTER FOR AMERICAN IDEAS?
- CAROLINA PARTNERSHIP FOR REFORM INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,085,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CENTER FOR AMERICAN IDEAS 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 2021–2024), and the filings of 6 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