New Hampshire · Nonprofit
LUDLOW INSTITUTE
LUDLOW INSTITUTE (New Hampshire) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,555,930 to it, the largest being CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT THOUGHT ($1,005,930). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.2M
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $1.6M
- Net assets
- $1.8M
What Ludlow Institute does
Mission
Ludlow Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to advancing individual freedom through technology via research, public education, and policy analysis. The institute studies both technologies that advance individual freedom and technologies that limit it, and across these areas conducts research, produces educational media and written materials, and delivers training that helps individuals protect and empower themselves in the digital age.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2025 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
During the 2025 tax year, Ludlow Institute launched two significant new program services that were not reported on the prior year's form 990-ez: research (grants & in-house): in 2025, ludlow launched its research grants program, providing competitive grants to outside researchers investigating data collection practices and consent transparency in everyday technology. The program funded its first two grantees during the year. Ludlow also conducted its first in-house research project, supported by a $10,000 competitive research grant, examining the use of ai-generated data to disrupt data broker tracking systems. Policy: in 2025, ludlow launched its policy research program, conducting nonpartisan legal and technical analysis on the application of fourth amendment protections to data held by third parties. Working with legal scholars and technical advisors, ludlow published educational materials on constitutional privacy principles for use by policymakers, scholars, and the public. Ludlow's research contributed to public understanding of digital privacy issues, and concepts explored in its published work were referenced in legislative proposals introduced in congress.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
Education (videos & articles): ludlow's media platform surpassed 1 million subscribers and 100 million total views across major social video platforms in 2025. Programming included investigative videos, mini-documentaries, tutorials, and explainers covering the full spectrum of technologies that advance or threaten individual freedom in the digital age. Ludlow was featured across major national television, print, and online outlets, including a nationally syndicated column reaching millions of readers. Newsletter subscribers grew to nearly 9,000, and the institute's ebook surpassed 3,477 copies sold.
$198,435 spent46% of program spendingResearch (grants & in-house): in 2025, ludlow launched its research grants program, funding investigations into data collection practices and consent transparency in everyday technology. First-round grants supported a phd student's research on hidden data collection in smart tvs, and a cybersecurity researcher's examination of surveillance in fitness wearables. Ludlow also won a $10,000 competitive research grant for an in-house research project exploring how to use ai-generated data to disrupt data broker tracking systems.
$94,903 spentof which $962 as grants$10,000 earned by the program22% of program spendingPolicy: ludlow conducted nonpartisan legal and technical research on the application of fourth amendment principles to data held by third parties, such as banks, telecommunications providers, and data brokers, and engaged in public advocacy on digital privacy issues. In collaboration with legal scholars and technical advisors, ludlow analyzed how warrant requirements operate under existing constitutional doctrine and made its findings publicly available. Ludlow's research informed public debate on digital privacy, and concepts developed through this work were reflected in legislative proposals introduced in congress. Ludlow also participated in a national educational roundtable examining financial privacy and banking policy.
$25,883 spent6% of program spendingTraining: ludlow delivered hands-on privacy and digital security training throughout 2025, reaching audiences ranging from high school students to global civil society leaders. Trainings included a high school classroom session, a community intensive that seeded a local privacy meetup network, two sessions at a major cybersecurity conference, a workshop at an international innovation summit, a digital security masterclass for a global network of freedom activists, and a fireside chat on the fundamentals of privacy at an international privacy technology congress.
$111,112 spent26% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $430,333.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2024, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2024, 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 2024 to 2025, from $114k to $1.8M (+1446%).
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.
97% of LUDLOW INSTITUTE’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations 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. 0 of the last 2 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
2 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 32% 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 LUDLOW INSTITUTE’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
LUDLOW INSTITUTE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 65% of grant income and the top three 97%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
97% 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 LUDLOW INSTITUTE.
“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.
Where its funders are
LUDLOW INSTITUTE draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside New Hampshire, across 2 states in all.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $500k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
LUDLOW INSTITUTE runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like LUDLOW INSTITUTE
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 New Hampshire
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LUDLOW INSTITUTE: 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 LUDLOW INSTITUTE?
- LUDLOW INSTITUTE (New Hampshire) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,555,930 to it, the largest being CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT THOUGHT ($1,005,930). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LUDLOW INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $1,555,930 in grants to LUDLOW INSTITUTE, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LUDLOW INSTITUTE?
- CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT THOUGHT is the largest funder on record, with $1,005,930 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LUDLOW INSTITUTE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New Hampshire. 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 Ludlow Institute →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2024–2025), and the filings of 4 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