Washington · Nonprofit
DISCOVERY INSTITUTE
DISCOVERY INSTITUTE (Washington) receives grants from 89 organizations whose IRS filings report $36,253,474 to it, the largest being Donors Trust Inc ($10,149,300). 55 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 84% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $17M
- Funders on record
- 89
- Grants received
- $36M
- Net assets
- $12M
What Discovery Institute does
Mission
To advance a culture of purpose, creativity, and innovation in a diverse set of fields. This mission is achieved through education, research, and analysis of local, regional, national, and international issues.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The center for science and culture promotes research, education, and discussion relating to the scientific theory of intelligent design. The center's activities include the sponsorship of scientific research and writing; the production of books, articles, reports, and curricula; the organizing of seminars and conferences; and the development and operation of educational websites, podcasts, and videos.
$10,501,059 spentof which $3,612,702 as grants$2,723,723 earned by the program83% of program spendingThe center on wealth and poverty connects the practical truths of economics with the perennial truths of ethics. The program - home to leading scholars in philosophy and economics - is building sustained and accessible defense of free enterprise, entrepreneurship, and stewardship in the moral categories consonant with most americans.
$932,528 spentof which $211,913 as grants$2,761 earned by the program7% of program spendingThe ai program (walter bradley center for natural and artificial intelligence at Discovery Institute) explores the benefits as well as the challenges raised by artificial intelligence (ai) in light of the enduring truth of human exceptionalism. People know at a fundamental level that they are not machines. But faulty thinking can cause people to assent to views that in their heart of hearts they know to be untrue. The bradley center seeks to help individuals - and our society at large - to realize that we are not machines while at the same time helping to put machines (especially computers and ai) in proper perspective.
$680,957 spentof which $21,000 as grants$199,975 earned by the program5% of program spendingOther programs include: the chapman center for citizen leadership is a training program for young professionals interested in a career in public and/or community service. The center enables young leaders to consider the foundational ideas of leadership in a free society by connecting them with mentors and fellow young leaders through seminars, lectures, and fellowship programs. The technology and democracy project examines how new technologies are transforming business, education, defense, and government and proposes how society can get the most benefit (and least harm) from these developments. The cascadia center program promotes regional cooperation as the key to ensuring mobility, economic growth and a healthy environment in the pacific northwest. The center on human exceptionalism examines a constellation of issues such as assisted suicide and euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, human genetic manipulation, human cloning, and animal rights issues. The religion, liberty, and civic life program examines the proper role of religion in a free society. The american center for transforming education works with state legislators, policymakers, and parents to promote systemic…
$534,669 spentof which $95,123 as grants$14,871 earned by the program4% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $12,649,213.
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 2024 to 2025, from $10M to $15M (+44%).
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.
95% of DISCOVERY INSTITUTE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (25% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Bruce Chapman
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 15 funders to 36 funders, grant income rose $1.1M → $6.7M.
24 of 89 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 84% 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 DISCOVERY INSTITUTE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 89 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
DISCOVERY INSTITUTE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 28% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
87% 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 DISCOVERY INSTITUTE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 71% · 2018 59% · 2019 51% · 2020 48% · 2021 44% · 2022 34% · 2023 37% — 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
57% of DISCOVERY INSTITUTE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
84% of DISCOVERY 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. Of the $5.9M that is directly attributable, 65% of it comes from funders outside Washington, across 23 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $30M arriving through sponsors registered in 16 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
DISCOVERY INSTITUTE runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 102 unclassified nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 102 unclassified nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like DISCOVERY 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 Washington
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
92% 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 3 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Discovery House · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DISCOVERY 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 DISCOVERY INSTITUTE?
- DISCOVERY INSTITUTE (Washington) receives grants from 89 organizations whose IRS filings report $36,253,474 to it, the largest being Donors Trust Inc ($10,149,300). 55 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 84% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does DISCOVERY INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 89 organizations giving $36,253,474 in grants to DISCOVERY INSTITUTE, 55 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DISCOVERY INSTITUTE?
- Donors Trust Inc is the largest funder on record, with $10,149,300 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DISCOVERY INSTITUTE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. 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 89 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