California · Nonprofit
INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE
INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE (California) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,796,243 to it, the largest being WK Kellogg Foundation ($2,000,000). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $8.9M
- Funders on record
- 27
- Grants received
- $8.8M
- Net assets
- $1.6M
What Institute for the Future does
Mission
Institute for the Future is the world's leading futures organization. Our mission is to prepare the world to create better, more equitable futures by disrupting short-term thinking with visions of transformative possibilities.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Strategic advisory (including research initiatives, speeches and workshops): for more than 50 years, iftf has conducted independent futures research, designed to create foresight then leads to insight and ultimately to future-smart action. This work is organized across a core set of research agendas and interconnected labs that, together, build broad scans of the future landscape and lead deep dives into urgent futures.
$4,690,401 spent$5,617,783 earned by the program56% of program spendingForesight essentials: iftf's portfolio of foresight trainings are built on over 50 years of iftf futures methodologies and tools. Courses and custom enterprise trainings are designed to help individuals and organizations grow their skills in the art and science of foresight. Alumni also join a vibrant community and network of practitioners who can advance futures thinking in all kinds of organizations and communities around the globe.
$2,443,168 spent$2,403,001 earned by the program29% of program spendingVantage: for nearly four decades, the vantage program has been a leading source of foresight for business, government and nonprofits. It's a platform for sensing today's latent signals, tracking their intersections to understand the ecosystem of choices, and designing platforms for future resilience. This is an annual membership program that, along with all other core foundational multiclient projects, provides the building blocks for initiatives that further our mission in leading the efforts on long-term thinking, while supporting ongoing public and private sector special projects that pushes are research into new areas of study. The vantage program served approximately 20 partners, hosted an annual conference, and provided a diverse array of foresight deliverables.
$786,625 spent$795,804 earned by the program9% of program spendingGrant funding: iftf works with philanthropic organizations for a range of civic and public-oriented foresight work that are aligned with our public mission, both for research studies and foresight education.
$493,834 spent$68,000 earned by the program6% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $8,414,028.
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 2020 to 2021, from $4.4M to $9.2M (+109%).
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 16%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
0% of INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue 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. 3 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
Marina Gorbis
Executive director
Board chair
Steve Milovich
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 7 funders, grant income rose $7k → $585k.
9 of 27 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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 THE FUTURE’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 THE FUTURE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 30% · 2019 67% · 2020 34% · 2021 28% · 2022 36% · 2023 60% — 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
28% of INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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 THE FUTURE draws 56% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 8 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $429k 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 THE FUTURE's funding base is broadening — from 1 funders to 7 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,752 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $34k on record.
- Department of Health and Human Services$30k
- Agency for International Development$4k
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 INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
70%
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 THE FUTURE: 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 THE FUTURE?
- INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE (California) receives grants from 27 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,796,243 to it, the largest being WK Kellogg Foundation ($2,000,000). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE have?
- IRS filings report 27 organizations giving $8,796,243 in grants to INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE?
- WK Kellogg Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $2,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Institute for the Future →
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 27 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