Virginia · Nonprofit
Institute for Humane Studies
Institute for Humane Studies (Virginia) receives grants from 184 organizations whose IRS filings report $44,082,426 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($12,827,325). 120 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $21M
- Funders on record
- 184
- Grants received
- $44M
- Net assets
- $30M
What Institute for Humane Studies does
Mission
The Institute discovers, develops, and supports students, scholars, and other intellectuals who maintain the highest standard of academic excellence and who share an interest in the principles of the classical liberal tradition.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Intellectual Talent Development:Intellectual Talent Development supports work and partnerships that identify, develop, and connect emerging scholars, thinkers, and practitioners who advance ideas that expand human freedom and flourishing.
$5,540,016 spentof which $2,567,812 as grants33% of program spendingLiberalism, Pluralism, and Democracy:The Liberalism, Pluralism, and Democracy Initiative advances research and education that strengthen constitutional liberal democracy by promoting individual liberty, pluralism, free expression, and institutions that support peaceful coexistence and self governance.
$4,236,436 spentof which $814,329 as grants$33,944 earned by the program25% of program spendingEconomic Freedom and Abundance: Economic Freedom and Abundance supports work and partnerships that advance understanding of how economic freedom, markets, and entrepreneurship contribute to innovation, prosperity, and broad based human flourishing.
$4,031,005 spentof which $841,399 as grants$12,694 earned by the program24% of program spendingScholarsEdge:ScholarsEdge provides shared research infrastructure, analytical tools, and collaboration capabilities to help scholars and partner organizations accelerate research, public scholarship, and policy relevant impact.
$1,850,389 spentof which $333 as grants$175,000 earned by the program11% of program spendingThe Public Affairs Program:The Public Affairs Program seeks to inform alumni, faculty, and supporters about the efforts of the Institute and support the development of a network of faculty, supporters, and nonprofit allies who share an interest in classical liberal ideas.
$1,116,322 spentof which $1,000 as grants7% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $16,774,168.
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.
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 $26M to $35M (+39%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Board chair
Ryan Stowers
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 59 funders to 67 funders, grant income fell $3.7M → $3.7M.
22 of 184 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 39% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $57M from 5 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Charles Koch Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money Institute for Humane Studies raised.
From the IRS filings of Institute for Humane Studies’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 184 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
Institute for Humane Studies has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 29% 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
40% 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 Institute for Humane Studies.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 34% · 2018 84% · 2019 64% · 2020 27% · 2021 12% · 2022 14% · 2023 14% — 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
40% of Institute for Humane Studies's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
Institute for Humane Studies draws 98% of its grant income from funders outside Virginia, across 33 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $17M arriving through sponsors registered in 17 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.
Organizations like Institute for Humane Studies
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 Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
50%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 25 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- George A Warren Trust UA 09111969 FBO Foundation for Economic Education · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Institute for Humane Studies: 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 Institute for Humane Studies?
- Institute for Humane Studies (Virginia) receives grants from 184 organizations whose IRS filings report $44,082,426 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($12,827,325). 120 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Institute for Humane Studies have?
- IRS filings report 184 organizations giving $44,082,426 in grants to Institute for Humane Studies, 120 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Institute for Humane Studies?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $12,827,325 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Institute for Humane Studies find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 184 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