New York · Nonprofit
OPEN TO DEBATE FOUNDATION
OPEN TO DEBATE FOUNDATION (New York) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,159,268 to it, the largest being ROSENKRANZ FOUNDATION INC ($11,242,474). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.2M
- Funders on record
- 26
- Grants received
- $16M
- Net assets
- $81k
What Open to Debate Foundation does
Mission
The organization's mission is to engage broader audiences in the organization's mission to address extreme polarization through debate. In addition to repositioning the organization in the market with a more accessible name, open to debate produces a weekly series of provocative and informative debates online and at live venues throughout the united states. The goals of this initiative are (1) to raise the level of public discourse on our most divisive issues, (2) to provide a weekly forum for intelligent discussion, grounded in civil dialogue, facts and informed by reasoned analysis, (3) to transcend the toxically emotional and the reflexively ideological arguments that are dividing americans, (4) to encourage recognition that understanding opposing viewpoints is what can build empathy and bridge the divide, and (5) to engage american citizens as active participants in fair and balanced debate.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
To advance our mission of restoring balance, facts, reasoned analysis, and civility to american public discourse, open to debate produces 52 episodes for public radio distribution, which is distributed as a podcast, video series, and companion newsletter. To meet the demand for weekly content production, we developed a virtual debate platform to allow for live audiences and members of the media to engage with debaters in real time across the country, which resulted in hundreds of new journalist engagements and tens of thousands of new online subscribers. More than 300 public radio stations now carry the weekly program, and another 50 stations broadcast select episodes. The program is carried in more than 50% of the top 25 npr markets, including #1, wnyc, with an estimated 4.3 million listeners across the country in 2025. Debates are also syndicated on real clear media's digital properties, on social media platforms and on the youtube channel, with over 280k subscribers. Open to debate's primary public service is the production of a weekly debate program. Leading thinkers and authorities on the issues argue on each side of a consequential question. A moderator keeps the proceedings…
$3,850,991 spentof which $27,500 as grants$81,917 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $3,850,991.
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 2022 to 2023, from $411k to $820k (+100%).
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.
98% of OPEN TO DEBATE FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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
Clea Conner
CEO/director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $2.1M → $2.9M.
11 of 26 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 23% 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 OPEN TO DEBATE FOUNDATION’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
OPEN TO DEBATE FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 70% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 91% · 2018 100% · 2019 96% · 2020 89% · 2021 72% · 2022 84% · 2023 45% — 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
50% of OPEN TO DEBATE FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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
95% of OPEN TO DEBATE FOUNDATION's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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
OPEN TO DEBATE FOUNDATION has grown faster than half of the 84 social science nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 84 social science nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like OPEN TO DEBATE FOUNDATION
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 York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
61%
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 OPEN TO DEBATE FOUNDATION: 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 OPEN TO DEBATE FOUNDATION?
- OPEN TO DEBATE FOUNDATION (New York) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,159,268 to it, the largest being ROSENKRANZ FOUNDATION INC ($11,242,474). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does OPEN TO DEBATE FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 26 organizations giving $16,159,268 in grants to OPEN TO DEBATE FOUNDATION, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of OPEN TO DEBATE FOUNDATION?
- ROSENKRANZ FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $11,242,474 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like OPEN TO DEBATE FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 26 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