California · Nonprofit
First Look Institute Inc
First Look Institute Inc (California) receives grants from 72 organizations whose IRS filings report $126,884,693 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($123,463,500). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 99% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.5M
- Funders on record
- 72
- Grants received
- $127M
- Net assets
- $-1546043
What First Look Institute Inc does
Mission
First Look Institute supports fearless investigative journalism, innovative and cinematic nonfiction filmmaking, and press freedom initiatives to protect the right to a free and open society and press.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The Intercept is an independent news organization delivering unflinching investigative journalism that unearths injustices and holds the powerful accountable. Beholden only to the public, never to corporate influence, The Intercept is committed to defending its First Amendment right to report information that the public deserves to know. Its in-depth investigations focus on politics, war, surveillance, corruption, criminal justice, the environment, immigration, the media, technology and more. Intercept gives its journalists the editorial freedom and legal support they need to expose corruption and injustice where they find it.
$1,200,000 earned by the programPrioritizing artistic approach, creative innovation, and integrated mentorship, Field of Vision commissions and produces nonfiction films that empower filmmakers to tell the vital stories of our world. By exploring contemporary global issues through a cinematic lens, creators are able to push boundaries, perspectives, and narratives instorytelling. With comprehensive multidisciplinary support for filmmakers, journalists, and artists, Field of Vision advocates for greater equity, inclusion, and sustainability, with an unwavering commitment to supporting filmmakers and their development.
$350,000 earned by the programThe Press Freedom Defense Fund, in partnership with the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, gives direct financial support to news organizations, reporters, and whistleblowers to pay for legal expenses, along with providing technical assistance and professional guidance, so information that is critical to our democracy can be brought to light without fear of retribution. Through grants (often paid directly to expert legal counsel who agree to provide representation at reduced/capped fees) and educational outreach to support established and non-traditional journalists and news organizations, the Fund opposes official actions that restrict press freedoms and seek source information or journalistic materials. It is one of the few programs that supports whistleblowers and other journalistic sources
$0 spent
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense.
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 $21M to $8.9M (−57%).
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.
100% of First Look Institute Inc’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Chief executive
Michael Bloom
Director/President/CEO
Board chair
Jeffrey Alvord
Director/Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 21 funders, grant income rose $16k → $9.9M.
17 of 72 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 99% 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 First Look Institute Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 72 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
First Look Institute Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 97% of grant income and the top three 98%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
99% 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 First Look Institute Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 47% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 99% · 2021 86% · 2022 97% · 2023 92% — growing more concentrated.
“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
24% of First Look Institute Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 31% 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
99% of First Look Institute Inc'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 $1.7M that is directly attributable, 96% of it comes from funders outside California, across 19 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $125M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
First Look Institute Inc runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,136 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like First Look 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
0% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 38 states
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- First Look Entertainment Inc · corp_trust
- First Look Services Inc · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for First Look 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 First Look Institute Inc?
- First Look Institute Inc (California) receives grants from 72 organizations whose IRS filings report $126,884,693 to it, the largest being Silicon Valley Community Foundation ($123,463,500). 22 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 99% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does First Look Institute Inc have?
- IRS filings report 72 organizations giving $126,884,693 in grants to First Look Institute Inc, 22 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of First Look Institute Inc?
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $123,463,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like First Look Institute Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 2017–2024), and the filings of 72 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