Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE
PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,913,011 to it, the largest being THE FORD FOUNDATION ($6,777,500). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.9M
- Funders on record
- 31
- Grants received
- $13M
- Net assets
- $5.1M
What Public Knowledge does
Mission
Public Knowledge promotes freedom of expression, an open internet, and access to affordable communications tools and creative works. We work to shape policy on behalf of the public interest.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Broadband: pk works to secure broadband access for everyone. To accomplish this, pk works to create a consistent, long-term subsidy to help people afford access; promote competition among providers to lower prices; and require providers to offer on-site backup power to keep networks up. Pk also urges policymakers to ban providers from discriminating against consumers. Pk also works to ensure the government manages spectrum in ways that benefit all americans.
$947,837 spent51% of program spendingDigital rights management/copyright: Public Knowledge (pk) works to create a copyright system that recognizes the role that technology plays in our everyday lives. Pk supports the public's right to remix content into new expressions or create or share lawful content online. Pk advocates for policies that protect innovation without constraining fair use. Pk urges congress to fix the dmca so that consumers can own, lend, or repair their devices.
$736,008 spent$3,547 earned by the program40% of program spendingPress/public education: pk's modes of advocacy include educating the press, the public, and policymakers using plain-language analysis, white papers, blog posts, op-eds, fact sheets, and videos. Pk experts are regularly featured in the news, on podcasts, and in other media. Pk's work also includes coordinating, hosting, and facilitating events that provide a forum for policymakers, the public, industry, and the press to exchange ideas about pk's core issues. Additionally, pk organizes and runs coalitions to harness the power of public interest organizations.
$82,581 spent4% of program spendingPolicy strategy center
$77,412 spent4% of program spendingInternational
$2,493 spent0% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,846,331.
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 $4.6M to $6.6M (+44%).
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 PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
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.
Chief executive
Christopher J Lewis
President/CEO
Board chair
Virginia Lam Abrams
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $1.4M → $1.7M.
7 of 31 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% 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 KNOWLEDGE’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 KNOWLEDGE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 52% of grant income and the top three 69%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 76% · 2018 69% · 2019 63% · 2020 44% · 2021 50% · 2022 47% · 2023 41% — 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
36% of PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 68% 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 KNOWLEDGE draws 90% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 12 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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
PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE is better cushioned than half of the 1,003 public benefit nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,003 public benefit nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $2.3M on record.
- OR$2.1M
- NJ$73k
- OK$72k
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 KNOWLEDGE
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
51% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
60%
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 KNOWLEDGE: 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 KNOWLEDGE?
- PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,913,011 to it, the largest being THE FORD FOUNDATION ($6,777,500). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE have?
- IRS filings report 31 organizations giving $12,913,011 in grants to PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE?
- THE FORD FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $6,777,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE 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 Public Knowledge →
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 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing