Virginia · Nonprofit
JAMES WILSON INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL RIGHTS AND THE AMERICAN FOUNDING
JAMES WILSON INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL RIGHTS AND THE AMERICAN FOUNDING (Virginia) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,064,081 to it, the largest being DIANA DAVIS SPENCER FOUNDATION INC ($710,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $595k
- Funders on record
- 18
- Grants received
- $2.1M
- Net assets
- $1.0M
What James Wilson Institute for Natural Rights and the American Founding does
Mission
The james wilson institutes mission is to restore to a new generation of lawyers, judges, and citizens the understanding of the american founders about the first principles of our law and moral grounds of their own rights.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The james wilson institute hosted a variety of educational programs and speaking symposiums in 2024 for audiences of lawyers, judges, scholars, and interested citizens. The james wilson fellowship is one of the core programs of the institute, in which a group of lawyers is selected from a selective application process to spend a week in washington, dc learning the connection between philosophy and law. Another core program is the james wilson senior seminar, a semi-annual gathering of judges, scholars and lawyers who wish to maintain a firm grasp on the moral foundations of american jurisprudence. Finally, the institute hosted 22 other programs throughout the year on subjects connected to american jurisprudence and the restoration of a more morally coherent civic culture.
$705,677 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $705,677.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 2022 to 2023, from $335k to $1.6M (+371%).
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 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
98% of JAMES WILSON INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL RIGHTS AND THE AMERICAN FOUNDING’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 6 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
Douglas C Neff
Chairman and president
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $66k → $656k.
6 of 18 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 21% 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 JAMES WILSON INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL RIGHTS AND THE AMERICAN FOUNDING’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
JAMES WILSON INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL RIGHTS AND THE AMERICAN FOUNDING leans on a few funders — its largest provides 34% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
25% 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 JAMES WILSON INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL RIGHTS AND THE AMERICAN FOUNDING.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 76% · 2018 73% · 2019 75% · 2020 48% · 2021 68% · 2022 50% · 2023 55% — 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
33% of JAMES WILSON INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL RIGHTS AND THE AMERICAN FOUNDING's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 83% 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
JAMES WILSON INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL RIGHTS AND THE AMERICAN FOUNDING draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Virginia, across 9 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $443k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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
JAMES WILSON INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL RIGHTS AND THE AMERICAN FOUNDING has grown faster than half of the 22,812 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 22,812 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding JAMES WILSON INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL RIGHTS AND THE AMERICAN FOUNDING receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $30k on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$30k
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 JAMES WILSON INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL RIGHTS AND THE AMERICAN FOUNDING
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
44%
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 JAMES WILSON INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL RIGHTS AND THE AMERICAN FOUNDING: 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 JAMES WILSON INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL RIGHTS AND THE AMERICAN FOUNDING?
- JAMES WILSON INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL RIGHTS AND THE AMERICAN FOUNDING (Virginia) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,064,081 to it, the largest being DIANA DAVIS SPENCER FOUNDATION INC ($710,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does JAMES WILSON INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL RIGHTS AND THE AMERICAN FOUNDING have?
- IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $2,064,081 in grants to JAMES WILSON INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL RIGHTS AND THE AMERICAN FOUNDING, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of JAMES WILSON INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL RIGHTS AND THE AMERICAN FOUNDING?
- DIANA DAVIS SPENCER FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $710,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like JAMES WILSON INSTITUTE FOR NATURAL RIGHTS AND THE AMERICAN FOUNDING 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.
Play a game about who funds James Wilson Institute for Natural Rights and the American Founding →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 18 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