Wisconsin · Nonprofit
FILENE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC
FILENE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,479,160 to it, the largest being TARGET FOUNDATION ($380,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $11M
- Funders on record
- 26
- Grants received
- $2.5M
- Net assets
- $14M
What Filene Research Institute Inc does
Mission
Strengthening organizations through innovative research & incubation to improve consumer financial well-being.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Research and innovation - filene research institute seeks out high priority research questions for the benefit of consumers and the cooperative finance movement. The institute regularly publishes reports and outputs on its research findings including podcasts, toolkits, infographics, and slide decks. Filene published 29 research and innovation reports in the year, as well as 19 other research and innovation outputs. Articles summarizing the research are widely distributed in the trade press, social media, general media and in publications of credit union trade organizations. The organization also regularly speaks on its research findings across north america as well as provides research insights on key consumer finance topics at industry and nonprofit conferences. Filene's incubators take the next step in innovation by testing products and ideas to help credit unions grow and make a positive impact on their members and communities. Filene currently has 4 incubator offerings and tested 5 in-market products during the past fiscal year.
$4,104,870 spent$437,204 earned by the program63% of program spendingOutreach and education - filene provides members and strategic partners opportunities to engage with our body of work through our events and communities. This year over 1872 credit union affiliated individuals registered for one of our events. We also had over 5577 register to attend one of our 30 filene webinars. Our communities supported 306 future leaders through the cooperative trust, where participants can attend an in-person event or participate in our learning community crash course. Filene also continued i2, a program for emerging talent with 2023 wave 2 class of 22 participants. In addition, our i3 program which provides innovation training expanded the leadership capacity in over 50 credit unions and credit union industry partner organizations.
$2,451,394 spent$103,636 earned by the program37% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2022 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,556,264.
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 2019 to 2020, from $12M to $14M (+16%).
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 7% · 2022 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
88% of FILENE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (30% 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.
Chief executive
Mark Meyer
President & chief executive officer
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $298k → $525k.
2 of 26 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 FILENE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC’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
FILENE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 15% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
44% 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 FILENE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 82% · 2018 75% · 2019 87% · 2020 73% · 2021 22% · 2022 50% · 2023 48% — 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
25% of FILENE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC'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
FILENE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC draws 76% of its grant income from funders outside Wisconsin, across 17 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $25k 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
FILENE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC is better cushioned than half of the 132 public benefit nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 132 public benefit nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like FILENE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC
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 Wisconsin
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
93%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 34 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FILENE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC: 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 FILENE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC?
- FILENE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC (Wisconsin) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,479,160 to it, the largest being TARGET FOUNDATION ($380,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FILENE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC have?
- IRS filings report 26 organizations giving $2,479,160 in grants to FILENE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FILENE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC?
- TARGET FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $380,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FILENE RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Wisconsin. 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 Filene Research 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 26 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