Virginia · Nonprofit
CENTER FORWARD
CENTER FORWARD (Virginia) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,485,962 to it, the largest being PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH AND MANUFACTURERS OF AMERICA ($11,763,424). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $7.3M
- Funders on record
- 18
- Grants received
- $14M
- Net assets
- $5.8M
What Center Forward does
Mission
To give centrist allies the information they need to craft common sense solutions and provide those allies the support needed to turn those ideas into results.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The organizations 2023 exempt purpose achievements were to advance the mainstream principles espoused by the centrist movement. Specifically, the organization held panel and discussion events on issues relevant to the work in congress. In addition, the organization researched, produced and conducted nationwide issue advertising to promote the moderate movement.
$11,463,770 spentof which $106,616 as grants$17,118 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $11,463,770.
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 2020 to 2021, from $1.5M to $3.7M (+146%).
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 FORWARD’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Board chair
Robert Bud Cramer
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 6 funders, grant income rose $1.3M → $1.7M.
From the IRS filings of CENTER FORWARD’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 FORWARD leans on a few funders — its largest provides 81% 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 FORWARD.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 94% · 2018 71% · 2019 96% · 2020 83% · 2021 95% · 2022 69% · 2023 90% — 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
33% of CENTER FORWARD's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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 FORWARD draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Virginia, across 4 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 FORWARD has grown faster than half 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 FORWARD
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
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Center Forward Committee · exempt
- Center Forward Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CENTER FORWARD: 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 FORWARD?
- CENTER FORWARD (Virginia) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,485,962 to it, the largest being PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH AND MANUFACTURERS OF AMERICA ($11,763,424). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CENTER FORWARD have?
- IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $14,485,962 in grants to CENTER FORWARD, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CENTER FORWARD?
- PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH AND MANUFACTURERS OF AMERICA is the largest funder on record, with $11,763,424 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CENTER FORWARD 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 2017–2024), and the filings of 18 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