New York · Nonprofit
PUBLIC AGENDA INC
PUBLIC AGENDA INC (New York) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,438,487 to it, the largest being THE ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION ($3,931,730). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.7M
- Funders on record
- 31
- Grants received
- $13M
- Net assets
- $4.8M
What Public Agenda Inc does
Mission
Public agenda strengthens american democracy by connecting research to action enabling people and institutions to pursue changes that make a difference. We amplify the voices of americans and help communities discover and build on common ground.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Public engagement:public agenda has nearly fifty years of experience conducting independent, nonpartisan research and communicating findings to stakeholders in compelling ways. Our research amplifies and provides context for people's perspectives, attitudes, and experiences on critical and complex issues that affect their lives and communities in areas including health care, education, democracy, and civic engagement.
Research:public agenda's research employs both qualitative and quantitative methods to illuminate people's views and values through surveys, focus groups, in-depth interviewing, case studies, and more. Our research goes beyond traditional polling in a variety of ways. We explore people's views on solutions and constructive ways of addressing problems. We seek to understand the values, perceptions and concerns that shape people's opinions and experiences. And we recognize people's assets, expertise, and aspirations rather than just their needs and deficits.beyond opinion research, public agenda analyzes various forms of data to shed light on factors contributing to the way that democracy and key institutions workand don't workin the lives of americans.
$2,237,710 spent$29,897 earned by the program91% of program spendingCommunication services:public agenda's communications and action-focused engagement practice deliver our research insights to people who can put them to productive use. Findings from our research have informed institutional practices and policies, state and federal regulation, public engagement strategies, and philanthropic priorities.
$231,704 spent9% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,469,414.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2017 to 2018, from $2.8M to $5.3M (+86%).
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: 2022 9% · 2025 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
Ms Betty Sue Flowers
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $49k → $3.1M.
3 of 31 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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 PUBLIC AGENDA INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 31 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
PUBLIC AGENDA INC has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 29% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
33% 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 PUBLIC AGENDA INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 96% · 2018 38% · 2019 41% · 2020 79% · 2021 57% · 2022 60% · 2023 37% — 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
31% of PUBLIC AGENDA INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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
PUBLIC AGENDA INC draws 96% of its grant income from funders outside New York, across 17 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $482k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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.
Government funding PUBLIC AGENDA INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $30k on record.
- CONSULTANTS$30k
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 PUBLIC AGENDA 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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
72% 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 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for PUBLIC AGENDA 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 PUBLIC AGENDA INC?
- PUBLIC AGENDA INC (New York) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,438,487 to it, the largest being THE ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION ($3,931,730). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PUBLIC AGENDA INC have?
- IRS filings report 31 organizations giving $13,438,487 in grants to PUBLIC AGENDA INC, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PUBLIC AGENDA INC?
- THE ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $3,931,730 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PUBLIC AGENDA INC 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.
Play a game about who funds Public Agenda →
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 31 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