New York · Nonprofit
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC (New York) receives grants from 300 organizations whose IRS filings report $58,704,110 to it, the largest being THE FORD FOUNDATION ($8,281,992). 167 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $12M
- Funders on record
- 300
- Grants received
- $59M
- Net assets
- $33M
What Committee to Protect Journalists Inc does
Mission
The committee to protect journalists promotes press freedom worldwide and defends the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal. Cpj ensures the free flow of news and commentary by taking action wherever journalists are attacked, imprisoned, killed, kidnapped, threatened, censored, or harassed. Hundreds of journalists are killed, harassed, or imprisoned every year. For more than 40 years, cpj has advocated for their release, for justice and for freedom.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Since 1981, cpj has defended the right of journalists to report the news safely and freely all over the world. Our organization is made up of journalists and advocates who use journalism to expose and advocate on a broad range of violations. We focus on reducing the number of journalists in prison, fighting against injustice, and battling censorship and repressive legislation that governs our world's increasingly complex information landscape. We document violations and meet with government leaders to push for change, secure convictions in murders, and free jailed journalists. Our reporting and documentation inform and empower our advocacy. In doing so, we ensure access to independent information that enables all people to make decisions and hold the powerful to account.
$8,354,992 spentof which $716,283 as grants100% of program spendingCpj's regional programs cover africa, the americas, asia, europe and central asia, and the middle east and north africa. They are led by experts worldwide who report daily on press freedom abuses in close collaboration with our network of correspondents, who have deep ties with local journalists and advocates. We are unique in our ability to engage government leaders locally and globally, as well as mobilize the media to support the press. Our advocacy team leads or coordinates strategic efforts and impactful campaigns that weave cases into the most pressing issues. The team engages with policymakers and leaders from the united states, the european union, and the united nations, among other entities.
In partnership with teams across the organization, they inject our reporting into multilateral systems and mechanisms that champion press freedom, protect journalists, and help deliver justice. Our emergencies team provides pre-emptive, tailored tools and rapid response support to journalists under threat all over the world. The team is a pillar of assistance for journalists forced to flee for their safety and provides training, consultations, and guidance to prevent deaths, detentions, kidnappings, and other dangers.
Cpj's vast international networks and collaborative relationships with local and international freedom of expression and human rights groups allow for joint advocacy and strategic interventions together with groups like human rights watch, article 19, amnesty international, free press unlimited and reporters sans frontires. Cpj is a founding member of ifex, an organization of 100 global freedom of expression groups. Cpj is also a member of the consultative network for the media freedom coalition (mfc), a group of 52 countries committed to supporting a free press. As such, cpj works with the mfc to defend specific journalists and participates in diplomatic networks to protect the media. Cpj is also a founding member and continues to be active in the global network initiative (gni), an alliance of academics, civil society, companies, and investors that promote and advance freedom of expression and privacy rights across the technology ecosystem. Cpj's tech advocacy work includes meeting with governments as part of an informal network working to stop the use of spyware to target journalists. These relationships are part of organizational efforts to collaborate with local, regional,…
When cpj was founded by a group of u.s. Journalists 40 years ago, it was to defend their international colleagues who were at risk. Since then, we have used every tool of journalism to carry out our mission from news alerts to special reports, to documentaries, to social media. We have developed an unparalleled reputation for the accuracy and timeliness of our reporting, the quality of our data, and our ability to offer informed policy recommendations and conduct impactful advocacy. Our reporting influences political, news and technology leaders, drives coverage in the media, and shapes public discourse that leads to change. By ensuring journalists are able to report the news freely, cpj defends the right of people globally to access the critical information they need to make informed decisions in all areas of their lives and to hold decision-makers accountable. When a country's journalists are silenced, its people are silenced. By protecting journalists, cpj protects freedom of expression and democracy. A recognized leader in the global fight to protect press freedom, cpj has been honored with a range of awards, including the national union of journalists of ukraine's certificate…
The 5 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $8,354,992.
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 2019 to 2020, from $28M to $37M (+32%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2021 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
93% of COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC’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 8 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 64 funders to 124 funders, grant income rose $3.8M → $6.6M.
39 of 300 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 COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 300 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
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
45% 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 COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 23% · 2018 29% · 2019 28% · 2020 24% · 2021 25% · 2022 19% · 2023 16% — 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
43% of COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
55% of COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $24M 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
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC is better cushioned than half of the 152 civil rights nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 152 civil rights nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC
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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
79%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 38 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC: 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 COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC?
- COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC (New York) receives grants from 300 organizations whose IRS filings report $58,704,110 to it, the largest being THE FORD FOUNDATION ($8,281,992). 167 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC have?
- IRS filings report 300 organizations giving $58,704,110 in grants to COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC, 167 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC?
- THE FORD FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $8,281,992 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Committee to Protect Journalists →
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 300 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