Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
Center for Innovative Governance Research
Center for Innovative Governance Research (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,638,842 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($2,177,342). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 80% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.2M
- Funders on record
- 15
- Grants received
- $4.6M
- Net assets
- $3.0M
What Center for Innovative Governance Research does
Mission
We work with entrepreneurs, investors, policy experts, governments, humanitarians and new city developers to build a common understanding of charter cities and create relationships which can work toward implementing charter cities. Our goal is to lift tens of millions of people out of poverty by helping incubate dozens of charter cities around the world.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
African Urban Lab - In 2025, the Africa Urban Lab (AUL) expanded its work in urban education, research, and policy engagement across Africa. AUL graduated the inaugural cohort of 38 professionals from 10 countries in its Professional Diploma in Urban Development and welcomed a second cohort of 50 students from 15 countries, reflecting strong demand for applied urban training and supported by 33 full scholarships and additional tuition waivers. The organization also strengthened knowledge exchange by hosting two public talks, participating in 11 international conferences and policy forums, and launching the Economics of Greenfield Urban Planning working paper series. In addition, AUL established new institutional initiatives, including the University Coalition on Curricula for Cities (UCCC) to modernize urban planning education in East Africa and the Urban Expansion and the Periphery (UXP) program to support evidence-based planning with municipal partners.
$1,306,739 spentof which $314,699 as grants52% of program spendingEvents and Media - The New Cities Summit in Nairobi, Kenya brought together 400+ delegates, 87 speakers, 14 panels, 7 keynotes, 7 Cities Catapult pitches, 5 side events, and 19 sponsors. This event serves as the annual catalyst for the charter cities movement. Additionally, CCI staff spoke at and attended dozens of other events throughout the year to promote charter cities.
$726,672 spentof which $89,000 as grants$34,954 earned by the program29% of program spendingSpecial Projects - In 2025 CCI worked together with stakeholders from several new city projects including Astra (Kazakhstan), Sherbro Island (Sierra Leonne), and an upcoming project in Antigua. Additionally, CCI authored guidance and provided expert advice to other potential founders and projects.
$483,266 spent19% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,516,677.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 $1.1M to $5.6M (+413%).
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 Innovative Governance Research’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (61% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 7 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
Dr Mark Lutter
Executive Director, Board Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 4 funders, grant income rose $10k → $706k.
11 of 15 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 80% 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 Innovative Governance Research’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 Innovative Governance Research leans on a few funders — its largest provides 47% of grant income and the top three 82%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
99% 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 Innovative Governance Research.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 60% · 2020 93% · 2021 82% · 2022 70% · 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
0% of Center for Innovative Governance Research's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 47% 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
80% of Center for Innovative Governance Research'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 $913k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 2 states.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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 Innovative Governance Research has grown faster than three-quarters of the 2,127 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,127 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Center for Innovative Governance Research
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
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
75%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Center for Innovative Governance Research: 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 Innovative Governance Research?
- Center for Innovative Governance Research (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,638,842 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($2,177,342). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 80% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Center for Innovative Governance Research have?
- IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $4,638,842 in grants to Center for Innovative Governance Research, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Center for Innovative Governance Research?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $2,177,342 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Center for Innovative Governance Research 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 FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 15 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