Massachusetts · Nonprofit
POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES INC
POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 53 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,667,082 to it, the largest being ROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC ($3,910,000). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.7M
- Funders on record
- 53
- Grants received
- $17M
- Net assets
- $2.7M
What Political Research Associates Inc does
Mission
Political research associates is a social justice think tank devoted to supporting movements that are building a more just and inclusive democratic society. We expose movements, institutions, and ideologies that undermine human rights.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Political research associates is a nonprofit social justice research and strategy center dedicated to blocking the advance of oppressive, anti-democratic movements, and to building a just and inclusive democratic society. Over the past 4 decades, pra has researched, monitored, and publicized the agenda and strategies of the u.s. And global right, revealing the powerful intersections of christian nationalism, white nationalism, and patriarchy.pra produces investigative reports, articles, and tools; publishes the peer-reviewed magazine the public eye; advises social justice movement organizers; and offers expert commentary for local and national media outlets. Our core issue areas span reproductive justice, lgbtq rights, racial and immigrant justice, civil liberties, and economic justice.vision: political research associates envisions a just and inclusive democratic society free from oppression and exploitation a society in which supremacist and authoritarian forces no longer wield significant cultural or political power.pra's core values: pra conducts research of the highest quality and methodological rigor, and is committed to making our research and analysis readily available and…
$2,879,943 spent$11,070 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,879,943.
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 $991k to $3.3M (+234%).
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: 2021 9%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
99% of POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES INC’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. 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.
Chief executive
Tarso Ramos
Executive director, ex-off
Board chair
Katherine Acey
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 16 funders to 20 funders, grant income rose $933k → $3.3M.
19 of 53 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 43% 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 POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 53 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
POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 23% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
46% 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 POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 27% · 2018 27% · 2019 25% · 2020 41% · 2021 61% · 2022 18% · 2023 33% — 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
56% of POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES INC draws 94% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 12 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $7.2M 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
POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 174 social science nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 174 social science nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES 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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
65% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
73%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 20 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES 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 POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES INC?
- POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 53 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,667,082 to it, the largest being ROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC ($3,910,000). 32 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES INC have?
- IRS filings report 53 organizations giving $16,667,082 in grants to POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES INC, 32 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES INC?
- ROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC is the largest funder on record, with $3,910,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 Political Research Associates →
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 53 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