Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
COMMON CAUSE
COMMON CAUSE (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 104 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,809,054 to it, the largest being SIXTEEN THIRTY FUND ($1,722,104). 38 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $20M
- Funders on record
- 104
- Grants received
- $8.8M
- Net assets
- $18M
What Common Cause does
Mission
With offices in washington d.c. And 25 states and 1.5 million supporters and activists, Common Cause works to advance democracy reforms at federal, state, and local levels, through drafting model legislation, lobbying, public engagement, and joint efforts with diverse partners across the reform community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
We worked with Common Cause state organizations, grassroots advocates, and coalition partners across the country to support democracy-related advocacy, civic participation, public education, and community engagement efforts at the state and local level.our state operations supported coalition coordination, public outreach, communications activities, research support, stakeholder engagement, legislative and policy education efforts, and strategic consulting related to democracy reform priorities. Activities included convenings, alliance meetings, advocacy support, public messaging initiatives, and coordination with external partners, consultants, and community organizations across multiple states.we also supported operational and programmatic infrastructure necessary to sustain state-based initiatives, including communications campaigns, travel and meeting coordination, research activities, advertising and outreach efforts, and collaboration among advocates, organizers, policymakers, and partner organizations working to strengthen civic engagement and representative democracy.
$2,568,764 spent46% of program spendingWe worked to advance fair representation through transparent, people-centered redistricting processes and advocacy against partisan and racial gerrymandering.we supported litigation, grassroots organizing, and public education efforts designed to ensure electoral districts fairly represented communities and complied with constitutional and voting rights act protections.in indiana, we successfully challenged the city of anderson's failure to redraw city council districts that had remained unchanged since 1982 despite significant population shifts. Following litigation, a new constitutionally compliant map was implemented in time for the 2024 election.in michigan, we supported black voters and community advocates participating in the michigan independent citizens redistricting commission process to help ensure that communities of color were fairly represented and protected from racial gerrymandering.we also continued nationwide advocacy for fair maps and representative democracy by supporting independent redistricting commissions, mobilizing community participation in public hearings, and educating voters about the harms of partisan gerrymandering and the importance of transparent…
$1,658,806 spent30% of program spendingWe worked to ensure that every eligible citizen had the freedom to vote and that every vote was accurately counted. During the 2024 election cycle, we led one of the nation's largest nonpartisan voter protection efforts to defend voting rights, strengthen election administration, and help voters navigate rapidly changing election conditions.as a co-leader of the national nonpartisan election protection coalition, we mobilized more than 40,000 volunteers across 42 states to monitor polling locations, assist voters, identify election administration issues, and connect voters to legal and voter protection resources. More than 15,000 volunteers participated on election day alone, and we distributed more than $2 million in community regrants to local partners supporting voter engagement, voter education, and election protection efforts.we maintained a major volunteer presence during presidential and state primaries across the country. In florida, more than 280 poll monitors worked across 23 counties and evaluated nearly 150 polling locations for accessibility for voters with disabilities, while also expanding our nonpartisan hotline to include a haitian creole line for the first time.…
$628,104 spent11% of program spendingWe worked to reduce the influence of wealthy special interests in politics and educate the public about the impact of undisclosed political spending and weak ethics rules.throughout the 2024 election cycle, we conducted public education, coalition advocacy, and research related to the growing role of "dark money and unlimited political spending in federal and state elections. We educated voters and policymakers about the impact of undisclosed spending on elections, judicial races, and public policy decisions.we also supported reforms designed to strengthen campaign finance disclosure requirements, improve ethics and accountability standards, and increase the political influence of small-dollar donors and everyday voters.
$289,658 spent5% of program spendingWe worked to protect a free and open internet, defend independent journalism, and ensure that voters had access to accurate and reliable information.after the federal communications commission (fcc) voted unanimously to outlaw robocalls using artificial intelligence (ai) voice-cloning technology to mislead voters, we launched public education campaigns warning voters about deceptive ai-generated election content and advocating for stronger safeguards against election disinformation.as part of our longstanding net neutrality advocacy, we collected and delivered more than 126,000 petition signatures to the fcc supporting protections designed to preserve equal access to online information and prevent discriminatory treatment of internet traffic.we also worked to address the growing impact of online disinformation and coordinated attacks on trusted election information. We supported legal efforts defending the ability of public officials and researchers to respond to harmful election misinformation and conducted public education campaigns helping voters recognize manipulated media, election misinformation, and deceptive online tactics.
$162,176 spent3% of program spendingWe advanced nationwide public education, advocacy support, civic engagement, communications, and coalition-building activities aligned with our organizational mission and democracy-related priorities.our national programs supported communications campaigns, digital outreach, media initiatives, website and technology support, stakeholder engagement, research activities, and public education efforts designed to increase civic participation and strengthen public awareness around democracy and governance issues. Activities included communications strategy, digital engagement, graphic design, video and media production, website maintenance, and outreach initiatives intended to inform and engage communities nationwide.we also supported national operational and advocacy infrastructure through consulting services, digital acquisition and organizing tools, technology and data management resources, coalition partnerships, trainings, conferences, media monitoring, and public engagement activities. These efforts helped strengthen nationwide coordination, support long-term civic engagement initiatives, and expand the organization's capacity to communicate and collaborate effectively with…
$248,384 spent4% of program spending
The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,555,892.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $12M to $20M (+64%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Board chair
Martha Tierney
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 21 funders to 22 funders, grant income rose $659k → $717k.
7 of 104 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 36% 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 COMMON CAUSE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 104 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
COMMON CAUSE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% 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
91% 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 COMMON CAUSE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 33% · 2018 17% · 2019 16% · 2020 45% · 2021 33% · 2022 21% · 2023 21% — 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
28% of COMMON CAUSE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 37% 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
COMMON CAUSE draws 72% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 23 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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.
Organizations like COMMON CAUSE
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
56% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 48 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Common Cause Education Fund · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for COMMON CAUSE: 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 COMMON CAUSE?
- COMMON CAUSE (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 104 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,809,054 to it, the largest being SIXTEEN THIRTY FUND ($1,722,104). 38 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does COMMON CAUSE have?
- IRS filings report 104 organizations giving $8,809,054 in grants to COMMON CAUSE, 38 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of COMMON CAUSE?
- SIXTEEN THIRTY FUND is the largest funder on record, with $1,722,104 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like COMMON CAUSE 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 104 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