Texas · Nonprofit
Center for Austin Independent Journalism
Center for Austin Independent Journalism (Texas) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $108,500 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($46,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 63% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $644k
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $109k
- Net assets
- $456k
What Center for Austin Independent Journalism does
Mission
To equip Austinites to make informed decisions through independent, in-depth reporting, diverse opinions, and civil dialogue. A strong local press is essential for a healthy community and democracy. We work to make Austin a more empowered and connected community. People across the city must be heard, informed, and able to participate in discussions and decisions that affect our common future. Confident, empowered citizens are better prepared to solve our problems and to hold city leaders accountable to us, their constituents.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Austin Free Press is an independent, nonprofit news organization serving the Austin area. Its mission is to deliver bold, community-driven reporting with a focus on equity, affordability, and government transparency. In its reporting, AFP examines and investigates the policies and decisions of public officials and institutions, documents both problems and potential solutions, and reports on transparency and accountability in local governments. Our coverage areas include health, environment, housing, social justice, and underserved communities. We cover issues differently than other media by telling stories that others don't or won't regarding communities of color, lower-income residents, LGBTQ+ persons, children, older adults, and other marginalized communities. Editorial decisions follow the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics and are made independently of advertiser and donor influence. AFP includes the perspectives of both residents and policymakers in its coverage. AFP also supports the next generation of journalists through its Enterprise Journalism Training Program, developed in partnership with Huston-Tillotson University, Austin's only Historically Black…
$307,961 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $307,961.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2023, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2023, 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 2024 to 2025, from $157k to $456k (+190%).
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 Austin Independent Journalism’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 3 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
Alberta Phillips
Executive Director
Board chair
Roxanne Evans
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
2 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 63% 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 Center for Austin Independent Journalism’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 Austin Independent Journalism leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 91%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
63% 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 Austin Independent Journalism.
“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
63% of Center for Austin Independent Journalism'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 $40k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Texas funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $69k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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 Austin Independent Journalism runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 12,262 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 12,262 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like Center for Austin Independent Journalism
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 Texas
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Center for Austin Independent Journalism: 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 Austin Independent Journalism?
- Center for Austin Independent Journalism (Texas) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $108,500 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($46,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 63% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Center for Austin Independent Journalism have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $108,500 in grants to Center for Austin Independent Journalism, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Center for Austin Independent Journalism?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $46,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Center for Austin Independent Journalism find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Texas. 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 Center for Austin Independent Journalism →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2023–2025), and the filings of 4 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