North Carolina · Nonprofit
Institute for Southern Studies Inc
Institute for Southern Studies Inc (North Carolina) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,717,759 to it, the largest being THE FORD FOUNDATION ($2,145,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $278k
- Funders on record
- 25
- Grants received
- $4.7M
- Net assets
- $965k
What Institute for Southern Studies Inc does
Mission
The Institute for Southern Studies is a nonprofit research and media center that exposes injustice, strengthens democracy and builds a community for change in the South. Through research, education, and outreach programs, the Institute draws attention to key trends and issues in the South, the growing importance of the region and innovative work for lasting change.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Research, Reporting and Education: 2024 projects and accomplishments included: 1) Facing South online, which published reporting and analysis at the www.facingsouth.org website and delivered email newsletters to changemakers in the South and nationally reaching more than 15,000 readers; 2) The Democracy Program, which tracked threats to voting rights, fair elections, and good government, and provided ongoing research and analysis to advocates and policymakers on best practices to strengthen democracy in North Carolina and the South; and, 3) The Workers Rights Program, providing research and analysis to support efforts of worker-led organizations to improve working conditions and improve the lives of working families.
$204,375 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $204,375.
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 2019 to 2020, from $1.5M to $2.4M (+65%).
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: 2020 6% · 2023 31%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of Institute for Southern Studies Inc’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (76% 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.
Board chair
Paul Cuadros
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 6 funders, grant income rose $355k → $375k.
7 of 25 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 6% 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 Institute for Southern Studies Inc’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
Institute for Southern Studies Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 45% of grant income and the top three 67%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 71% · 2018 34% · 2019 66% · 2020 38% · 2021 53% · 2022 43% · 2023 87% — 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
29% of Institute for Southern Studies Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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 Southern Studies Inc draws 70% of its grant income from funders outside North Carolina, across 7 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $297k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
Institute for Southern Studies Inc holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 297 social science nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 297 social science nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like Institute for Southern Studies 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 North Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
29% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
33%
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 Institute for Southern Studies 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 Institute for Southern Studies Inc?
- Institute for Southern Studies Inc (North Carolina) receives grants from 25 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,717,759 to it, the largest being THE FORD FOUNDATION ($2,145,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Institute for Southern Studies Inc have?
- IRS filings report 25 organizations giving $4,717,759 in grants to Institute for Southern Studies Inc, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Institute for Southern Studies Inc?
- THE FORD FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,145,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Institute for Southern Studies Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in North Carolina. 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 25 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