Colorado · Nonprofit
INDEPENDENCE INSTITUTE
INDEPENDENCE INSTITUTE (Colorado) receives grants from 73 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,994,124 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($1,948,800). 49 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.3M
- Funders on record
- 73
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $6.2M
What Independence Institute does
Mission
The mission of Independence Institute is to empower individuals and to educate citizens,legislators and opinion makers about public policies that enhance personal and economic freedom.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The liberty project - the goal of the Independence Institute's liberty project is to educate the citizens, public officials, the media, the business community and concerned citizens on free market solutions to public policy challenges. The liberty project serves as our general research and services category. Its purpose is education on policy issues not specified in a particular policy center.
$1,507,395 spentof which $100,000 as grants77% of program spendingSecond amendment project - the second amendment project (sap) has established itself as the world's leading policy research center in the support of the right to keep and bear arms as laid out in the second amendment of the united states constitution. Sap director david kopel studies the legal precedents, news and opinions, in colorado, the united states and the world, to provide a constitutional perspective on topics ranging from legal reform to gun rights.
$312,839 spent16% of program spendingEducation policy center - calling for greater involvement of parents in the role of educating children, the Independence Institute was the first in the state to promote ideas such as open enrollment, charter schools, school report cards and vouchers. The education policy center, under the direction of pam benigno, continues its work in the areas of school choice and school accountability while also defending the rights of teachers and taxpayers from union abuses.
$147,184 spent7% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,967,418.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 2021 to 2022, from $4.1M to $5.4M (+31%).
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: 2022 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
89% of INDEPENDENCE INSTITUTE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 7 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
Catherine Shopneck
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 20 funders to 24 funders, grant income rose $591k → $1.3M.
16 of 73 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 35% 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 INDEPENDENCE INSTITUTE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 73 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
INDEPENDENCE INSTITUTE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% 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
74% 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 INDEPENDENCE INSTITUTE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 42% · 2018 32% · 2019 65% · 2020 20% · 2021 36% · 2022 19% · 2023 20% — 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 INDEPENDENCE INSTITUTE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
INDEPENDENCE INSTITUTE draws 57% of its grant income from funders outside Colorado, across 16 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
INDEPENDENCE INSTITUTE holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 1,003 public benefit nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,003 public benefit nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like INDEPENDENCE 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
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Complete Colorado · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for INDEPENDENCE 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 INDEPENDENCE INSTITUTE?
- INDEPENDENCE INSTITUTE (Colorado) receives grants from 73 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,994,124 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($1,948,800). 49 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does INDEPENDENCE INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 73 organizations giving $10,994,124 in grants to INDEPENDENCE INSTITUTE, 49 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of INDEPENDENCE INSTITUTE?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $1,948,800 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like INDEPENDENCE 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 73 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