Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
COMMONWEALTH COMMUNICATIONS
COMMONWEALTH COMMUNICATIONS (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,244,220 to it, the largest being PA ALLIANCE ACTION ($6,966,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.5M
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $13M
- Net assets
- $519k
What Commonwealth Communications does
Mission
Organized and operated exclusively to promote social welfare specifically for the purposes of promoting legislative and public action in support of non-partisan progressive values in the commonwealth of pennsylvania.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Defending and expanding democracy to ensure everyone has access and information to vote: Commonwealth Communications works to defend democracy and expand accessibility to the polls for every voter in pennsylvania. We established a centralized, non-partisan voting site to make it easier for voters to access voting services and learn about the process. We provided simple and direct information to millions of voters about their voting options. This work directly helped more than a half million pennsylvania voters take action to participate in 2023.
$2,247,300 spentof which $163,400 as grants71% of program spendingVoter guide for candidates representing working people and good government principles: Commonwealth Communications compiles a voter's guide to inform residents of the candidates and choices on their ballots. We inform voters about their choices and candidate positions on key issues facing them and their communities. Our voter's guide provides recommendations at every level of the ballot for state and federal candidates.
$701,972 spentof which $350,000 as grants22% of program spendingProviding ongoing accountability for government institutions to help working people: working people in pennsylvania are often left behind by political parties, government, corporations and other institutions. We provide ongoing accountability towards the public interest, especially when it comes for helping and supporting the interests of the poor and working class. We educate the public about the failures of their leaders and public institutions. We work with allied groups and strategic partners to ensure poor and working people are centered in narratives and debates about the role of our institutions.
$196,024 spent6% of program spendingProvided communications support to other aligned partner and coalition organizations.
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,145,296.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $508k to $82k (−84%).
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 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 6 funders, grant income fell $2.6M → $2.1M.
2 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 1% 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 COMMONWEALTH COMMUNICATIONS’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
COMMONWEALTH COMMUNICATIONS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 53% of grant income and the top three 85%; 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 COMMONWEALTH COMMUNICATIONS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 86% · 2021 54% · 2022 79% · 2023 36% — 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
50% of COMMONWEALTH COMMUNICATIONS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 38% 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
61% of COMMONWEALTH COMMUNICATIONS's grant income comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $95k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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 COMMONWEALTH COMMUNICATIONS
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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for COMMONWEALTH COMMUNICATIONS: 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 COMMONWEALTH COMMUNICATIONS?
- COMMONWEALTH COMMUNICATIONS (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,244,220 to it, the largest being PA ALLIANCE ACTION ($6,966,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does COMMONWEALTH COMMUNICATIONS have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $13,244,220 in grants to COMMONWEALTH COMMUNICATIONS, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of COMMONWEALTH COMMUNICATIONS?
- PA ALLIANCE ACTION is the largest funder on record, with $6,966,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like COMMONWEALTH COMMUNICATIONS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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