Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
POPULATION CONNECTION
POPULATION CONNECTION (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 173 organizations whose IRS filings report $55,838,995 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($45,000,850). 105 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 96% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $17M
- Funders on record
- 173
- Grants received
- $56M
- Net assets
- $36M
What Population Connection does
Mission
Overpopulation threatens the quality of life for people everywhere. Population Connection is the national grassroots population organization that educates young people and advocates progressive action to stabilize world population at a level that can be sustained by earth's resources.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Field and outreach: field and outreach: to assist Population Connection activists nationwide in building and sustaining state and local educational, media and lobbying efforts on behalf of Population Connection through organizing and providing training, technical assistance and funding. Represent Population Connection in coalitions focused on grassroots action and at public presentations and exhibitions as needed. 2024 higlights include: two of our field staff attended the netroots nation conference in baltimore, in july, and as an organization we sponsored 10 activists from around the country to attend the event, as well. We also tabled at netroots, handing out swag and collecting #fight4her petition signatures. We engaged activists online, following the 2024 general election, asking our supporters to urge president biden to do everything in his power to protect global reproductive health and rights before leaving office, and asking our supporters to contact their congresspeople, asking them to vote no on a bill that would have had the power to strip non-profit organizations of their non-profit status if they were deemed a "terrorist supporting organization" by the secretary of…
$2,626,481 spentof which $2,363,023 as grants25% of program spendingPopulation education: to promote population literacy among american youth by (1) providing educators with teaching resources and professional development workshops to help them effectively cover population dynamics and their impacts in k-12 classrooms; and (2) preparing educators to offer training to other teachers through the population education training network (petnet). Finally, to provide follow-up assistance and information enabling former trainees to apply their training most effectively. 2024 highlights include:- staff and volunteer teacher trainers conducted 627 pop ed workshops (both in-person and virtual) for educators in 47 u.s. States and territories and 4 canadian provinces. - facilitated 2 leadership institutes to train new workshop facilitators. These were held in charlotte, nc and detroit, mi for a total of 51 new trainers.- judged 2,293 student video submissions to the 13th annual world of 8 billion video contest for middle and high school students, covering the topics of climate migration, invasive species, and health- facilitated a graduate-level online course for 22 middle and high school science and social studies teachers through adams state university…
$2,568,752 spentof which $21,728 as grants$1,520 earned by the program25% of program spendingMembership: success in the areas of advocacy and public education depends largely on the support and dedication of the organization's members. We have 40,000 members across the nation, helping reach our goals through public outreach, such as sharing information at local community events, hosting virtual events, distributing our magazine, or writing letters to the editor of local newspapers. We support our members by providing materials for their distribution, paying registration and logistical fees for local events such as earth day, holding training and information sessions, responding to their correspondence and requests for information, and orders for our products and/or publications. In 2024, we hosted 19 virtual events with demography experts, global partners, and population-focused organizations, spotlighting the importance of integrating population dynamics into sustainable development. These sessions covered diverse topicsdemographic trends, reproductive rights, conservation, and moreengaging more than 900 participants in meaningful discussions and raising awareness on critical issues.
$2,530,217 spentof which $87 as grants$8,344 earned by the program24% of program spendingCommunications: to keep Population Connection members and supporters, federal elected officials, journalists, and editors up to date on domestic and international population issues. 2024 highlights include: Population Connection published:- four issues of Population Connection magazine, circulation about 65,000; hard copies mailed to Population Connection members, every member of congress, and over 3,000 public and university libraries. - four letters to the editor in u.s. Newspapers, two of them in the new york times and the others in the washington post and the guardian- two op-eds, in ms. Magazine and earth.org- 35 blog posts on the Population Connection website, ranging in topic from declining birth rates to biodiversity loss- frequent social media posts on facebook, instagram, threads, x, bluesky, and linkedin- new website pages, content, and updates- original focus group and survey research on americans' fertility preferences
$2,317,774 spentof which $9,196 as grants22% of program spendingGovernment relations: to inform congress and the administration about population issues and to advocate the adoption of measures to move the united states and the world towards stabilizing population; to influence population-related legislation; to mobilize members to take action. Population Connection's (pc) global partners program (gpp) began in 2020. At that time, we had just five (5) ngos, large and small, well-financed and not. Pc gave small and medium sized grants to help subsidize the gps' worked and work with families and individuals struggling with poverty and unemployment, unintended pregnancy, illness, and other life-threatening problems. Today, the gpp consists of 21 ngos, who get small and medium sized grants and donations once a year. At this time, the program is hale and hearty, and succeeds in helping the global partners oversee their ngos' vital programs related to phe.phe, or "population, health, and education," is our organization's calling card. It's also shorthand for our mission of being the "[n]ational grassroots population organization that educates young people and advocates progressive action to stabilize world population at a level that can be sustained…
$285,442 spentof which $27 as grants3% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $10,328,666.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2023 to 2024, from $33M to $40M (+20%).
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 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of POPULATION CONNECTION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (82% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 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
John Seager
President & CEO
Board chair
Estelle Raboni
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 50 funders to 65 funders, grant income fell $10M → $8.8M.
29 of 173 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 96% 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 POPULATION CONNECTION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 173 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
POPULATION CONNECTION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 81% of grant income and the top three 93%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
97% 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 POPULATION CONNECTION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 97% · 2018 90% · 2019 91% · 2020 80% · 2021 81% · 2022 79% · 2023 90% — 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
52% of POPULATION CONNECTION'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
96% of POPULATION CONNECTION'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 $2.0M that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 29 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $54M arriving through sponsors registered in 18 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
POPULATION CONNECTION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 43 social science nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 43 social science nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like POPULATION CONNECTION
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
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 27 states
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Population Connection Action Fund · exempt
- Population Connection Action Fund Fund PAC · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for POPULATION CONNECTION: 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 POPULATION CONNECTION?
- POPULATION CONNECTION (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 173 organizations whose IRS filings report $55,838,995 to it, the largest being FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS ($45,000,850). 105 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 96% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does POPULATION CONNECTION have?
- IRS filings report 173 organizations giving $55,838,995 in grants to POPULATION CONNECTION, 105 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of POPULATION CONNECTION?
- FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS is the largest funder on record, with $45,000,850 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like POPULATION CONNECTION 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 173 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