Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
Global Knowledge Initiative
Global Knowledge Initiative (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $718,450 to it, the largest being JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY ($658,440). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.5M
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $718k
- Net assets
- $1.9M
What Global Knowledge Initiative does
Mission
We believe the knowledge to foster a more resilient future already exists in the world, but the gap lies in how we connect the individuals who hold this ingenuity with one another so that they can do more together. See Schedule O for Continuation
As stated on its FY2022 Form 990.
Program
On its FY2024 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.
In 2024, the Organizations Board passed a resolution that, recognizing shifts in GKIs ways of working since its 2009 exemption application, in service to its charitable purpose, GKI may engage in grantmaking, engage overseas organizations, and operate in foreign countries. (Foreign operations will continue to exclude foreign registration; establishment of an office or agents outside of the US; and individual employees not authorized to work in the US.) To these ends, the Board passed and the Executive incorporated a suite of policies and operational procedures to ensure continued accountability and stewardship of effective, ethical partnership and grant management.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
Labs: GKIs Lab Programs intentionally bring together diverse stakeholders to solve problems, innovate, drive the alignment of interests, broker new partnerships, and set a collaborative course for strategy design that leads to lasting change. In 2024, GKI conducted research, development, and stakeholder engagement to design a portfolio applying GKIs Labs methodologies to fostering positive relations between the people of the United States and China. Research and development activities entailed approximately ten streams of exploratory program design and participation in four external convenings. As a result, GKI developed a Theory of Change applying its areas of work and capacities to the challenge of positive American and Chinese relations, and co-designed two key initial partnerships. Under Knowledge Amplification, GKI is working with the Global China Lab, which since 2016 has produced over 30 issues of the Made in China Journal, 6 issues of Global China Pulse, and more than 100 country and project profiles in the Peoples Map of Global China, providing open-access research on Chinas global footprint. In 2024, GKI and GCL scoped the partnership and identified key areas of overlap…
$615,969 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $615,969.
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 2023 to 2024, from $220k to $1.9M (+754%).
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 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of Global Knowledge Initiative’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% 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
Steven Smith
CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2021: the base narrowed from 2 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $331k → $5.
1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 Global Knowledge Initiative’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
Global Knowledge Initiative leans on a few funders — its largest provides 92% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
92% 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 Global Knowledge Initiative.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 82% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% — 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.
Where its funders are
Global Knowledge Initiative draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 2 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10 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.
Against its field
Global Knowledge Initiative runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,752 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,752 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding Global Knowledge Initiative receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $276k on record.
- Department of State$276k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like Global Knowledge Initiative
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, D.C.
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
69%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Global Knowledge Initiative: 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 Global Knowledge Initiative?
- Global Knowledge Initiative (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $718,450 to it, the largest being JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY ($658,440). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Global Knowledge Initiative have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $718,450 in grants to Global Knowledge Initiative, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Global Knowledge Initiative?
- JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY is the largest funder on record, with $658,440 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Global Knowledge Initiative find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 Global Knowledge Initiative →
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 3 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