Colorado · Nonprofit
Dr James Dobson Family Institute
Dr James Dobson Family Institute (Colorado) receives grants from 85 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,147,841 to it, the largest being Heavenly Fathers Foundation ($3,310,000). 58 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $11M
- Funders on record
- 85
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $6.7M
What Dr James Dobson Family Institute does
Mission
To help preserve and promote the institution of the family and the biblical principles on which it is based, and to seek to introduce as many people as possible to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Specifically, the focus of the ministry is on marriage, parenthood, evangelism, the sanctity of human life and encouraging righteousness in the culture.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Broadcast Production and Expansion: Dr. Dobson and the broadcast team began production of a daily radio series, Dr. James Dobson Family Talk, in March 2010. This program is still the centerpiece of Family Talk's outreach today. Family Talk programs are now heard on approximately 1400 outlets in the U.S. in addition to online radio stations that broadcast throughout the world. Along with the half-hour daily broadcast and the 90-second commentary, Family Talk can be heard via online streaming, podcast, and mobile apps. The focus of these programs is on marriage, parenting, evangelism, the sanctity of human life and encouraging righteousness in the culture.
$2,711,236 spent35% of program spendingConstituent Response: Family Talk Correspondence Team and Counseling personnel, along with contracted Call Center and Fulfillment House, responded to calls, letters, and prayer requests from constituents each month throughout the year responding with personal letters, emails, phone calls, and resources to meet the needs of individuals and families who contacted the organization for help.
$730,453 spent9% of program spendingOther indirect program expenses related to the Organizations mission.
$4,276,428 spent55% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $7,718,117.
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 2020 to 2021, from $4.0M to $9.9M (+146%).
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 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of Dr James Dobson Family Institute’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (84% 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.
Board chair
Dr James C Dobson
Founder, Chairman of the B
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 21 funders to 35 funders, grant income rose $1.1M → $1.9M.
23 of 85 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 Dr James Dobson Family Institute’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 85 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
Dr James Dobson Family Institute has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 30% 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
42% 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 Dr James Dobson Family Institute.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 44% · 2018 42% · 2019 34% · 2020 22% · 2021 36% · 2022 49% · 2023 30% — 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
48% of Dr James Dobson Family Institute's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 68% 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
Dr James Dobson Family Institute draws 97% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 26 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.5M 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
Dr James Dobson Family Institute holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 127 religion nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 127 religion nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like Dr James Dobson Family 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 Colorado
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
90%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 18 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Family Talk Action Corporation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Dr James Dobson Family 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 Dr James Dobson Family Institute?
- Dr James Dobson Family Institute (Colorado) receives grants from 85 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,147,841 to it, the largest being Heavenly Fathers Foundation ($3,310,000). 58 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Dr James Dobson Family Institute have?
- IRS filings report 85 organizations giving $11,147,841 in grants to Dr James Dobson Family Institute, 58 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Dr James Dobson Family Institute?
- Heavenly Fathers Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $3,310,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Dr James Dobson Family Institute find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Colorado. 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 Dr James Dobson Family Institute →
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 85 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