Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
POLARIS PROJECT
POLARIS PROJECT (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 184 organizations whose IRS filings report $29,213,250 to it, the largest being WAL-MART FOUNDATION ($5,672,908). 98 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $11M
- Funders on record
- 184
- Grants received
- $29M
- Net assets
- $-140648
What Polaris Project does
Mission
Polaris works to end sex and labor trafficking and restore freedom to survivors.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
National human trafficking hotline - polaris continued operating the u.s. National human trafficking hotline (nhth), with funding from the u.s. Department of health and human services, office on trafficking in persons (otip) and private donations. The nhth provides victims and survivors of human trafficking access to critical support and services to get help and stay safe, 24-7, in more than 200 languages across five modes of communication - phone, chat, text, webform, and email.
$5,440,518 spent$11,013,014 earned by the program58% of program spendingFinancial intelligence unit - polaris' financial intelligence unit leverages the reach, expertise, and motivation of the global financial sector to identify human trafficking operations through their financial footprints. Polaris works to identify suspicious financial activity, conduct trainings for financial and anti-money laundering professionals, and support criminal cases against traffickers.
$702,704 spent8% of program spendingWorkers' rights/labor trafficking - polaris advocates for vigorous enforcement of basic labor protections afforded to workers in the united states, which would go a long way towards reducing labor trafficking, as would efforts to help workers understand their rights and the protections available to them. Polaris also advocates for increased employer accountability or "skin in the game", which are vital to reducing labor trafficking.
$712,962 spent8% of program spendingPolaris' largest other program is learning, innovation and data systems (lids), which develops a data driven understanding of human trafficking, generates research and data products for use by the anti-trafficking field, and supports polaris' monitoring and evaluation to ensure programs have their intended impact.
$2,479,801 spent27% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $9,335,985.
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 2021 to 2022, from $10M to $17M (+72%).
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 17% · 2019 19% · 2020 42% · 2021 31% · 2022 36% · 2023 47% · 2024 48%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of POLARIS PROJECT’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (96% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 7 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
Catherine Chen
Executive director & CEO
Board chair
Jean Gilbert
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 41 funders to 61 funders, grant income rose $1.5M → $4.1M.
36 of 184 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 24% 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 POLARIS PROJECT’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 184 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
POLARIS PROJECT has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
35% 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 POLARIS PROJECT.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 17% · 2018 49% · 2019 40% · 2020 56% · 2021 27% · 2022 20% · 2023 43% — growing more concentrated.
“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
37% of POLARIS PROJECT's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
POLARIS PROJECT draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 31 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $7.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 20 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
POLARIS PROJECT's funding base is broadening — from 41 funders to 61 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 363 international nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding POLARIS PROJECT receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $31.3M on record — $31.3M federal, $5k state.
- Department of Health and Human Services$31.3M
- VT$2k
- OK$2k
- NJ$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 POLARIS PROJECT
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 Washington, D.C.
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
88%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 28 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for POLARIS PROJECT: 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 POLARIS PROJECT?
- POLARIS PROJECT (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 184 organizations whose IRS filings report $29,213,250 to it, the largest being WAL-MART FOUNDATION ($5,672,908). 98 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does POLARIS PROJECT have?
- IRS filings report 184 organizations giving $29,213,250 in grants to POLARIS PROJECT, 98 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of POLARIS PROJECT?
- WAL-MART FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $5,672,908 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like POLARIS PROJECT find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 Polaris Project →
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 184 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