Virginia · Nonprofit
COMMON SENSE POLICY INSTITUTE
COMMON SENSE POLICY INSTITUTE (Virginia) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $268,100 to it, the largest being Donors Trust Inc ($200,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $200k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $268k
- Net assets
- $34k
What Common Sense Policy Institute does
Mission
The Common Sense Policy Institute works to inform the American public of dysfunction in the government by identifying government waste, fraud, and abuse through engaging in nonpartisan analysis, study, and research relating to government efficiency.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Used nonpartisan analysis, study and research relating to government waste, fraud and abuse to develop policy proposals and inform the public through media coverage to support efficient and effective government operations rooted in common sense.
$153,406 spent100% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $153,406.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
2 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 100% 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 SENSE POLICY INSTITUTE’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
COMMON SENSE POLICY INSTITUTE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 75% of grant income and the top three 100%; 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 COMMON SENSE POLICY INSTITUTE.
“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.
Where its funders are
100% of COMMON SENSE POLICY INSTITUTE'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. Too little is directly attributable to place on a map.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $268k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
COMMON SENSE POLICY INSTITUTE runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 3,130 public benefit nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,130 public benefit nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding COMMON SENSE POLICY INSTITUTE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.3M on record.
- Department of Homeland Security$2.3M
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 COMMON SENSE POLICY INSTITUTE
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
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for COMMON SENSE POLICY INSTITUTE: 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 SENSE POLICY INSTITUTE?
- COMMON SENSE POLICY INSTITUTE (Virginia) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $268,100 to it, the largest being Donors Trust Inc ($200,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 100% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does COMMON SENSE POLICY INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $268,100 in grants to COMMON SENSE POLICY INSTITUTE.
- Who is the largest funder of COMMON SENSE POLICY INSTITUTE?
- Donors Trust Inc is the largest funder on record, with $200,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like COMMON SENSE POLICY INSTITUTE 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 2024–2024), and the filings of 2 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