Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST
CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 152 organizations whose IRS filings report $55,111,490 to it, the largest being THE BLOOMBERG FAMILY FOUNDATION INC ($25,790,000). 86 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $13M
- Funders on record
- 152
- Grants received
- $55M
- Net assets
- $31M
What Center for Science in the Public Interest does
Mission
The Center for Science in the Public Interest is america's food and health watchdog. Cspi envisions a healthy population with reduced impact and burden of preventable diseases and an equitable food system that makes healthy, sustainable food accessible to all. Cspi values independence, scientific rigor, and transparency.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Public education - includes the distribution of health and nutrition-oriented materials, such as books, brochures, letters, articles, and pamphlets to the public; sponsorship of conferences and websites and media interviews.
$3,257,709 spent22% of program spendingNutrition action health letter consists of editing and publishing six issues per year of nutrition action heath letter, a periodical for members and subscribers containing current information of nutrition food safety, and related health issues.
$3,581,759 spent$62,329 earned by the program24% of program spendingSpecial projects - includes efforts to provide public information on nutrition and diet, provide consumer input on nutrition and food safety laws and regulations, investigate accuracy of food and beverage advertising and labeling, promote healthier menu items in restaurants.-promote increased production and availability of food that is free of unsafe ingredients by working with food producers and retailers. Monitoring and investigating proposed and approved additives to food safety, particularly for meat, poultry, and seafood.- promote increased protection from ordinary contamination with microbes through increased appropriations for inspections of imported and domestic foods and food manufacturing facilities. Promotion of policies intended to reduce anti-microbial resistance.- improve the diet of children by promoting more nutritious school foods through publications, seminars, and public policy efforts. Encourage food producers to improve the nutrient content of the products sold in schools and restaurants and discourage the advertising of unhealthy foods to children. - improve human health and the environment by promoting the consumption of a more plant-based diet and reducing…
$8,301,329 spentof which $420,577 as grants$9,781 earned by the program55% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $15,140,797.
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 $22M to $42M (+95%).
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.
91% of CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST’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. 3 of the last 9 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
Peter Lurie
Executive director
Board chair
Michael A Nutter
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018, and between the FY2018 and FY2019, and between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 28 funders to 52 funders, grant income rose $418k → $6.3M.
30 of 152 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 41% 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 SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 152 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 SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST 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
43% 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 SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 33% · 2018 43% · 2019 38% · 2020 75% · 2021 75% · 2022 69% · 2023 61% — 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
42% of CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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 SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST draws 99% 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. $23M arriving through sponsors registered in 18 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 SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST is better cushioned than half of the 201 food & nutrition nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 201 food & nutrition nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST
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
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
64%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 36 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Cspi Action Fund · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST: 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 SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST?
- CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 152 organizations whose IRS filings report $55,111,490 to it, the largest being THE BLOOMBERG FAMILY FOUNDATION INC ($25,790,000). 86 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST have?
- IRS filings report 152 organizations giving $55,111,490 in grants to CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST, 86 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST?
- THE BLOOMBERG FAMILY FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $25,790,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 152 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