Virginia · Nonprofit
INTERNET SOCIETY
INTERNET SOCIETY (Virginia) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $275,060,066 to it, the largest being PUBLIC INTEREST REGISTRY ($271,908,904). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $48M
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $275M
- Net assets
- $64M
What Internet Society does
Mission
To promote the open development, evolution, and use of the internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Technology and standards development: represents ietf administration llc's work including ietf meetings to support ietf, the internet architecture board (iab), and the internet research task force (irtf),the standards setting and research arms of the internet community.
$8,772,350 spentof which $335,216 as grants$3,304,967 earned by the program29% of program spendingEmpowering people to take action: represents isoc's efforts to collaborate, outreach, and train other communities of interest, partners, and allies to ensure the internet thrives and meets the needs of all people. Also represented are isoc's community engagement work with organizational members, individual members, isoc chapters, and special interest groups.
$7,318,406 spentof which $1,538,237 as grants24% of program spendingStrengthening the internet: represents isoc's work on strengthening the internet across the globe to protect and defend the internet. Including isoc's work for strong encryption, the security and stability of internet routing, and open standards.
$7,311,079 spentof which $83,543 as grants$2,183 earned by the program24% of program spendingGrowing the internet
$6,791,305 spentof which $1,313,720 as grants22% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $30,193,140.
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 $55M to $69M (+25%).
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: 2017 1% · 2018 0% · 2023 0% · 2024 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
89% of INTERNET SOCIETY’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (96% 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 5 funders to 3 funders, grant income fell $31M → $28M.
6 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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: $32M from 3 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Internet Society Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money INTERNET SOCIETY raised.
From the IRS filings of INTERNET SOCIETY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 12 of 13 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
INTERNET SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 99% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
99% 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 INTERNET SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 98% · 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 97% · 2021 96% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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
22% of INTERNET SOCIETY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 46% 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
99% of INTERNET SOCIETY's grant income comes from Virginia funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.2M 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
INTERNET SOCIETY runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 363 international nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 363 international nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding INTERNET SOCIETY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $134k on record — $132k federal, $1k state.
- National Science Foundation$132k
- Registration - Agency Direct$1k
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 INTERNET SOCIETY
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
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
16%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 27 states
Part of a family of 6 related entities
- Ietf Administration LLC · disregarded
- Public Interest Registry · exempt
- Internet Society Asia Limited · exempt
- Internet Society Foundation · exempt
- Connected Giving Foundation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for INTERNET SOCIETY: 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 INTERNET SOCIETY?
- INTERNET SOCIETY (Virginia) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $275,060,066 to it, the largest being PUBLIC INTEREST REGISTRY ($271,908,904). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does INTERNET SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $275,060,066 in grants to INTERNET SOCIETY, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of INTERNET SOCIETY?
- PUBLIC INTEREST REGISTRY is the largest funder on record, with $271,908,904 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like INTERNET SOCIETY 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 13 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