Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS
CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 210 organizations whose IRS filings report $307,297,676 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($58,339,888). 137 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $37M
- Funders on record
- 210
- Grants received
- $307M
- Net assets
- $34M
What Center for American Progress does
Mission
The Center for American Progress (cap) is an independent nonpartisan policy institute that is dedicated to improving the lives of all americans through bold, progressive ideas, as well as strong leadership and concerted action. Our aim is not just to change the conversation, but to change the country.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Policy programs: public policy research and analysis was conducted across five cross-cutting priorities: democracy, economy, climate, racial equity & justice, and health. This included generating and publishing ideas and policies that informed key legislation such as the chips and science act, the inflation reduction act, the bipartisan safer communities act, the electoral count act, and the respect for marriage act.
$23,870,635 spentof which $468,000 as grants$74,604 earned by the program60% of program spendingCommunications: the communications department educated the public on progressive policy solutions, addressed timely policy issues through various media channels and events, and shaped messaging across the organization's cross-cutting priorities: democracy, economy, racial equity and justice, climate and health.
$8,391,448 spent21% of program spendingOUTREACH AND ADVOCACY: Outreach and advocacy efforts disseminated policy solutions across CAP's cross-cutting priorities to educate policy makers, allied organizations, and the general public. This work included conducting message research, lifting up the personal stories of individual Americans, and producing digital content to help bolster the case for these policy solutions. Efforts also included work with a wide range of partner organizations to undertake joint campaign activity, including events, earned media, and digital communications.
$5,481,727 spentof which $4,200,000 as grants14% of program spendingExecutive office
$2,365,878 spent6% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $40,109,688.
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 $72M to $106M (+47%).
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.
95% of CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (96% 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
Patrick Gaspard
President, CEO & director
Board chair
Senator Tom Daschle
Chair and Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 61 funders to 72 funders, grant income rose $30M → $42M.
31 of 210 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% 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: $2.3M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Center for American Progress Action Fund). These are real filings, and they are not money CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS raised.
From the IRS filings of CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 210 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
CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
44% 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 PROGRESS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 18% · 2018 17% · 2019 20% · 2020 15% · 2021 20% · 2022 20% · 2023 20% — 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.
How long its funders stay
49% of CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS draws 98% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 27 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $88M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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
CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS is better cushioned than half of the 152 civil rights nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 152 civil rights nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $50k on record.
- PROFESSIONAL SERVICES NON-IT>$75K$50k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS
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
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
73%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 29 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: 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 PROGRESS?
- CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 210 organizations whose IRS filings report $307,297,676 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($58,339,888). 137 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS have?
- IRS filings report 210 organizations giving $307,297,676 in grants to CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS, 137 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $58,339,888 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS 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.
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 210 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