Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
INDEPENDENT SECTOR
INDEPENDENT SECTOR (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 117 organizations whose IRS filings report $45,423,899 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($6,150,000). 72 of them have funded it in more than one year.
Against its field
INDEPENDENT SECTOR runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 2,910 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,910 philanthropy nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- The Heising-Simons Foundationshared funders
- Shared Ascent Fundportfolio match
- International Citycounty Management Associationportfolio match
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.
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 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of INDEPENDENT SECTOR’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 27 funders to 45 funders, grant income fell $3.9M → $2.9M.
19 of 117 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 22% 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 INDEPENDENT SECTOR’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 117 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
INDEPENDENT SECTOR has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 25% · 2018 23% · 2019 20% · 2020 48% · 2021 21% · 2022 31% · 2023 17% — 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
51% of INDEPENDENT SECTOR's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
INDEPENDENT SECTOR draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 24 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $9.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 statesis 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 117 funders put you under-funded among the 400 organizations that share them.
- The Heising-Simons Foundationshared fundersCA · backs 175 organizations that share your funders
- Shared Ascent Fundportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- International Citycounty Management Associationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Contina Impactportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Center for the Study of Democratic Institutionportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Dt Instituteportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Warren B Galkin Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Digital Harbor Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Sandler Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Motion Picture Association Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Distilled Spirits Council of the United States Incportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Laura and John Arnold Foundationshared fundersTX · backs 121 organizations that share your funders
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Government funding INDEPENDENT SECTOR receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $700 on record.
- DIRECT STATE SERVICES - NON-SALARY$700
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 INDEPENDENT SECTOR
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of 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
67% 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 32 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- 1620 Is LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for INDEPENDENT SECTOR: 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds INDEPENDENT SECTOR?
- INDEPENDENT SECTOR (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 117 organizations whose IRS filings report $45,423,899 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($6,150,000). 72 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does INDEPENDENT SECTOR have?
- IRS filings report 117 organizations giving $45,423,899 in grants to INDEPENDENT SECTOR, 72 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of INDEPENDENT SECTOR?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $6,150,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like INDEPENDENT SECTOR 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.
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 117funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing