North Carolina · Nonprofit
CIVILIZATION RESEARCH INITIATIVE
CIVILIZATION RESEARCH INITIATIVE (North Carolina) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,105,251 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($7,275,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 71% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.2M
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $340k
What Civilization Research Initiative does
Mission
Civilization Research Initiative "cri" is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization focused on preventing civilizational risks and improving social coordination. The aim is to support stability and genuine progress.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Public education & communications(120) - cri offers educational and advisory services to leaders in the public, private, and civic arenas. Educational efforts also include public education (on podcasts, lectures, etc) on topics related to societal resilience. Cri's focus is on delivering frameworks to understand complex topics and provide insights towards solutions. The consilience project is an online publication produced by cri, focused on improving people`s thinking skills, media literacy, and ability to make sense of complex and fraught topics. The project also explores the effects of various kinds of technology on social systems and culture.
$383,892 spent11% of program spendingMetacrisis training(160): $789,521- the metacrisis training is developing curriculum for people seeking to understand and effectively manage global catastrophic and existential risks. We offer a generalized curriculum as well as domain-specific tutoring. All courses are distributed via online courses and in-person workshops.
$789,521 spent23% of program spendingCatastrophic risk research & writing(140): $1,093,540 - research and development on issues at the interface of catastrophic risk, civilizational collapse, and social system resilience. Researchers produced papers published and shared via various public mediums (e.g. Event forums, our website) and in privately circulated white papers. Talks and podcasts related to this research were created to spur further work in the field.
$1,093,540 spent32% of program spendingWhite paper production & editing(130):$285,493 - white papers are one of the primary mediums cri uses to formalize and distribute our research in catastrophic risk and civilization design.
$285,492 spent8% of program spendingHurricane disaster program (170): temporary and short-term natural disaster emergency function. When the unexpected hurricane helene occurred in 2024 causing devastation across north carolina communities, there were several cri team members significantly impacted by that natural disaster as well. Cri gratefully had a network of resources and the capacity to help with immediate emergency disaster relief. Restricted funds granted to cri were used to provide employer disaster relief stipends to the employees in need of support and various disaster relief supplies for the local community.
$60,319 spentof which $15,000 as grants2% of program spendingGeneral programs(110):$855,947 - given that our work is interdisciplinary in nature, we often have a variety of projects that support the entire roster of programs across cri. In addition to org-wide projects, this is also where we house our research material costs, access to various journals, expert convenings, and interviews with content contributors.
$795,451 spentof which $65,092 as grants23% of program spending
The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,408,215.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2023 to 2024, from $2.7M to $483k (−82%).
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 CIVILIZATION RESEARCH INITIATIVE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 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
Daniel Schmachtenberger
President & CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base narrowed from 6 funders to 2 funders, grant income rose $620k → $5.1M.
7 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 71% 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 CIVILIZATION RESEARCH INITIATIVE’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
CIVILIZATION RESEARCH INITIATIVE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 66% of grant income and the top three 95%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
72% 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 CIVILIZATION RESEARCH INITIATIVE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 32% · 2021 63% · 2022 86% · 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
0% of CIVILIZATION RESEARCH INITIATIVE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 31% 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
71% of CIVILIZATION RESEARCH INITIATIVE'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 $3.2M that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside North Carolina, across 4 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $7.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
CIVILIZATION RESEARCH INITIATIVE receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $11M to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,186 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like CIVILIZATION RESEARCH INITIATIVE
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 North Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
67%
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 CIVILIZATION RESEARCH INITIATIVE: 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 CIVILIZATION RESEARCH INITIATIVE?
- CIVILIZATION RESEARCH INITIATIVE (North Carolina) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,105,251 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($7,275,000). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 71% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does CIVILIZATION RESEARCH INITIATIVE have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $11,105,251 in grants to CIVILIZATION RESEARCH INITIATIVE, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CIVILIZATION RESEARCH INITIATIVE?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $7,275,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CIVILIZATION RESEARCH INITIATIVE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in North Carolina. 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 2020–2024), and the filings of 13 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