Virginia · Nonprofit
Mercatus Center Inc
Mercatus Center Inc (Virginia) receives grants from 159 organizations whose IRS filings report $97,074,616 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($45,165,000). 86 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $48M
- Funders on record
- 159
- Grants received
- $97M
- Net assets
- $40M
What Mercatus Center Inc does
Mission
The Center builds and maintains a vibrant community of scholars dedicated to market-oriented thinking and classical liberal principles. We mentor and train up-and-coming scholars and thinkers who will generate ideas and influence society's key institutions.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
University Research & Teaching - Supports academic research and faculty activities at George Mason University and elsewhere to advance and apply a research agenda for understanding institutions and change or broadly advance a free and prosperous society.
$19,247,157 spentof which $9,526,084 as grants$2,264 earned by the program52% of program spendingApplied Research - Conduct economic research of consequence that makes sense of public policy problems and puts forward solutions that maximize individual freedom and prosperity.
$6,722,322 spentof which $80,295 as grants$855 earned by the program18% of program spendingStrategic Public Engagement - Drives Mercatus's external impact by integrating communications, government relations, publications, talent development, and convening to ensure its ideas reach and persuade key audiences.
$5,019,145 spentof which $6,000 as grants$2,442 earned by the program14% of program spendingStudent Programs - Support Graduate Students at George Mason University, training future scholars and decision-makers to advance and apply a research agenda for understanding institutions and change.
$4,712,079 spentof which $1,254,704 as grants13% of program spendingPublic Affairs - Seeks to inform alumni, faculty, and supporters about the efforts of the Center and build communication that develops a network of individuals interested in liberty.
$1,256,332 spentof which $10,000 as grants3% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $36,957,035.
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 $23M to $43M (+89%).
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 Mercatus Center Inc’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 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
Benjamin Klutsey
Executive Director (from 6/24)
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 33 funders to 53 funders, grant income rose $3.0M → $14M.
21 of 159 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 69% 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: $230k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Seminar Network Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money Mercatus Center Inc raised.
From the IRS filings of Mercatus Center Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 159 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
Mercatus Center Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 47% of grant income and the top three 63%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
71% 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 Mercatus Center Inc.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 67% · 2018 48% · 2019 29% · 2020 30% · 2021 63% · 2022 60% · 2023 65% — 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
39% of Mercatus Center Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% 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
69% of Mercatus Center Inc's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $30M that is directly attributable, 98% of it comes from funders outside Virginia, across 32 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $67M arriving through sponsors registered in 16 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
Mercatus Center Inc holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 25 social science nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 25 social science nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like Mercatus Center 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 Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
66%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 24 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Mercatus Center 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 Mercatus Center Inc?
- Mercatus Center Inc (Virginia) receives grants from 159 organizations whose IRS filings report $97,074,616 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($45,165,000). 86 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 69% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Mercatus Center Inc have?
- IRS filings report 159 organizations giving $97,074,616 in grants to Mercatus Center Inc, 86 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Mercatus Center Inc?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $45,165,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Mercatus Center Inc 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 159 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