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Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 129 organizations whose IRS filings report $325,817,070 to it, the largest being THE ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION ($60,277,250). 90 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$53M
Funders on record
129
Grants received
$326M
Net assets
$147M
90/129 repeat fundersgrants exceed reported revenue in one year
01What it does

What Center on Budget and Policy Priorities does

Mission

Promoting better public understanding, providing factual information and data, and analyzing impacts of government programs and policies that affect the lives of low and moderate income families and individuals at federal and state levels.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. State fiscal and related projects: Performs research and analysis of state budget and tax policy with an emphasis on the effects of such policies on low and moderate income households and fosters development of state-level policy organizations.

    $20,703,034 spentof which $10,069,910 as grants$120,885 earned by the program
    49% of program spending
  2. Low-income program and related projects: Performs research, analysis and development of strategies to improve federal policy and federal and state implementation of low-income programs. The Center also conducts policy analysis and promotes outreach strategies related to the earned income tax credit and the low-income component of the child tax credit.

    $8,896,417 spentof which $176,500 as grants$344,200 earned by the program
    21% of program spending
  3. Federal fiscal policy and related projects: Performs research and analysis of federal budgets, tax policies and related issues, and trends in poverty and income distribution.

    $5,235,749 spentof which $480,500 as grants$144,994 earned by the program
    12% of program spending
  4. Federal and state health projects: Works to improve the health of low-income families and individuals through research, improvements in program policies and operations, and outreach strategies to increase child and family health insurance coverage.

    $5,962,744 spent$303,100 earned by the program
    14% of program spending
  5. Organizational Initiatives: Includes work focused on longer-term policy development, enhancing staff development and capacity, and integrating race equity into our work.

    $1,384,647 spent
    3% of program spending

The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $42,182,591.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($35M) Expenses 100 ($33M) Net assets 100 ($94M)2018 Revenue 96 ($33M) Expenses 110 ($37M) Net assets 94 ($88M)2019 Revenue 154 ($53M) Expenses 125 ($41M) Net assets 109 ($102M)2020 Revenue 135 ($47M) Expenses 131 ($44M) Net assets 115 ($108M)2021 Revenue 154 ($53M) Expenses 148 ($49M) Net assets 122 ($115M)2022 Revenue 232 ($80M) Expenses 128 ($43M) Net assets 153 ($143M)2023 Revenue 93 ($32M) Expenses 133 ($44M) Net assets 147 ($137M)2024 Revenue 152 ($53M) Expenses 146 ($49M) Net assets 157 ($147M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (152)Expenses (146)Net assets (157)Peer revenue range

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 $127M to $173M (+36%).

$96M
$90M
$113M
$119M
$127M
$173M
$164M
$172M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

92% of Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 287 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$1.3M
’17
−$3.3M
’18
$12M
’19
$3.1M
’20
$4.3M
’21
$38M
’22
−$12M
’23
$3.9M
’24
3.0
months of
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

Ken Apfel

Chair

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed2626262624242423
Joined·+0+4+1+6+8+4+2
No longer listed·0418843
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base held at 42 funders, grant income rose $20M → $32M.

31 of 129 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 12% 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 on Budget and Policy Priorities’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 129 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 on Budget and Policy Priorities 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

26% 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 on Budget and Policy Priorities.

19%
largest funder
38%
top three
~13
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 17% · 2018 21% · 2019 22% · 2020 22% · 2021 17% · 2022 20% · 2023 16% — broadly stable.

“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

41% of Center on Budget and Policy Priorities's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 70% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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 on Budget and Policy Priorities draws 95% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 21 states in all.

WA
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
CO
VA
MD
NM
AR
NC
DC
HI
OK
TX

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Washington, D.C. out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $39M arriving through sponsors registered in 16 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 270 public benefit nonprofits its size.

Operating margin8% · above the median
Months of reserve3.0mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)6% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 270 public benefit nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024

Government funding Center on Budget and Policy Priorities receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $54 on record.

State$54
Top programs
  • Travel-Outst-Meals-Emp$48
  • Travel-Outst-Other Trans-Emp$6

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 on Budget and Policy Priorities

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

87% of spending goes to programs.

Program 87%Management 9%Fundraising 4%

Governance

13
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

54%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 37 states

AK
ME
NH
WA
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
CO
KY
WV
VA
MD
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
OK
MS
AL
GA
FL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 on Budget and Policy Priorities?
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 129 organizations whose IRS filings report $325,817,070 to it, the largest being THE ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION ($60,277,250). 90 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Center on Budget and Policy Priorities have?
IRS filings report 129 organizations giving $325,817,070 in grants to Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 90 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Center on Budget and Policy Priorities?
THE ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $60,277,250 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Center on Budget and Policy Priorities 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 129 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