Ohio · Nonprofit
POLICY MATTERS OHIO
POLICY MATTERS OHIO (Ohio) receives grants from 46 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,170,859 to it, the largest being Center on Budget and Policy Priorities ($4,291,000). 28 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.5M
- Funders on record
- 46
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $3.1M
What Policy Matters Ohio does
Mission
Conducting research to create a more prosperous, equitable, sustainable and inclusive ohio.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
In 2024, Policy Matters Ohio released 110 reports, blogs, briefs and other publications and generated 859 press hits, ensuring that accurate, compelling research on how state policy can make ohio a more vibrant, equitable, sustainable and inclusive state was part of the public debate. The organization provided 124 informative presentations to groups across ohio to over 4,400 people, and remains active in multiple local, statewide, and national coalitions. Through research and advocacy policy matters continued to highlight the need for revenue and an equitable tax code, paying workers a fair wage, accessible pathways to good union jobs, adequate public childcare funding that pays a fair wage to workers, adequate and fair public school funding, expanded crisis response services, an end to unjust fines & fees, affordable and accessible health care, and energy and environmental policies that ensure publicly-funded projects protect and benefit communities. Our research and advocacy helped pave the way for legislation guaranteeing a paystub for all ohio workers, the elimination of some debt-related driver's license suspensions, and defensive work to stave off bad property tax…
$1,302,806 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,302,806.
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 $2.3M to $3.3M (+41%).
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.
95% of POLICY MATTERS OHIO’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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
Melissa Cropper
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 14 funders to 19 funders, grant income rose $734k → $1.4M.
7 of 46 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 7% 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 POLICY MATTERS OHIO’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 46 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
POLICY MATTERS OHIO leans on a few funders — its largest provides 38% of grant income and the top three 58%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
65% 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 POLICY MATTERS OHIO.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 44% · 2018 30% · 2019 41% · 2020 47% · 2021 48% · 2022 25% · 2023 39% — 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
43% of POLICY MATTERS OHIO's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
POLICY MATTERS OHIO draws 68% of its grant income from funders outside Ohio, across 10 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $798k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
POLICY MATTERS OHIO holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 175 social science nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 175 social science nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like POLICY MATTERS OHIO
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 Ohio
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
78%
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 POLICY MATTERS OHIO: 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 POLICY MATTERS OHIO?
- POLICY MATTERS OHIO (Ohio) receives grants from 46 organizations whose IRS filings report $11,170,859 to it, the largest being Center on Budget and Policy Priorities ($4,291,000). 28 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does POLICY MATTERS OHIO have?
- IRS filings report 46 organizations giving $11,170,859 in grants to POLICY MATTERS OHIO, 28 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of POLICY MATTERS OHIO?
- Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is the largest funder on record, with $4,291,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like POLICY MATTERS OHIO find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 Policy Matters Ohio →
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 46 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