California · Nonprofit
ReThink Media
ReThink Media (California) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,792,690 to it, the largest being PROTEUS FUND INC ($5,293,280). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.8M
- Funders on record
- 17
- Grants received
- $14M
- Net assets
- $2.0M
What ReThink Media does
Mission
We strengthen groups collaborative media and communications capacity, increase the voiceshare of advocates, experts, and community spokespeople, and provide in-depth media, messaging, and opinion research to advance effective organizing and advocacy strategy. All driven by a belief that the stronger groups are across an issue sector and the tighter their collaboration, the more likely they are to win real and lasting social change. ReThink works in several distinct, yet interconnected, issue areas: combating bigotry and advancing human and civil rights; ensuring fair elections, impartial courts, and a more representative democracy; and working to end militarism and advance a more just and constructive US foreign and national security policy.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Peace & Security CollaborativeAchievement for this program:For years, we have supported the voices of experts exploring solutions to critical foreign policy challenges. In 2025, ReThink ensured the voices of nuclear security experts, peace and security professionals, and impacted individuals were featured in press coverage. We additionally increased our ability to penetrate digital ecosystems, helping partners expand their online audiences. We continued to focus on US military spending, arms sales, and the costs of US wars, emphasizing the need to support underrepresented individuals in the field to shape the national conversation on these issues through earned and owned media.
$558,326 spent$22,500 earned by the program34% of program spendingRights & Inclusion CollaborativeAchievement for this program:Our Rights & Inclusion team mobilizes Black, Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern, Sikh, and South Asian American (BAMEMSSA) community leaders and allies to oppose hate crimes, discriminatory legislation, and anti-Muslim prejudice. In 2025, ReThink conducted five capacity-building trainings on communications strategies, hosted three reporter briefings, and served as strategic partners to elevate community voices during pivotal moments. We increased BAMEMSSA voice share through broadcast interviews, opinion pieces, and spokesperson coaching in local and national outlets, while providing data-driven communications guidance and facilitating collaborative opportunities.
$544,181 spent$5,000 earned by the program34% of program spendingAnalysisAchievement for this program:The Research & Analysis team strategically maps the media and public opinion landscape to ensure that the right voices are heard, at the right moment, and in the right mediums to shift public opinion and achieve policy wins. In 2025, the Analysis team completed several survey projects on various topics, including restraint in US foreign policy and the expiration of the New START nuclear treaty. We conducted a major media analysis of news related to the US military as part of a larger project on the effects of and beliefs around militarism in the US. As part of this same project, we also conducted a novel qualitative study designed to probe deep-seated attitudes about the military among the general public.
$293,241 spent$69,110 earned by the program18% of program spendingInclusive Democracy CollaborativeAchievement for this program:Our Inclusive Democracy Collaborative partnered with leading organizations to advance inclusive, representative democracy where every American has equal voice and meaningful stake in decisions affecting their lives. In 2025, ReThink provided strategic communications support to organizations navigating a new administration and institutional changes, helped mobilize youth engagement with elected leaders, and offered tactical youth-focused advice. We closed the program in May 2025.
$225,718 spent14% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,621,466.
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 2020 to 2021, from $3.1M to $4.3M (+37%).
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: 2017 0% · 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 17% · 2021 23%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
85% of ReThink Media’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Tyler Lewis
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 9 funders, grant income fell $2.1M → $1.1M.
4 of 17 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 40% 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 ReThink Media’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
ReThink Media leans on a few funders — its largest provides 38% of grant income and the top three 72%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
63% 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 ReThink Media.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 42% · 2018 55% · 2019 43% · 2020 59% · 2021 38% · 2022 45% · 2023 28% — 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
50% of ReThink Media's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 65% 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
ReThink Media draws 93% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 5 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.6M 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
ReThink Media is better cushioned than half of the 11,752 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,752 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like ReThink Media
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
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 ReThink Media: 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 ReThink Media?
- ReThink Media (California) receives grants from 17 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,792,690 to it, the largest being PROTEUS FUND INC ($5,293,280). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ReThink Media have?
- IRS filings report 17 organizations giving $13,792,690 in grants to ReThink Media, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ReThink Media?
- PROTEUS FUND INC is the largest funder on record, with $5,293,280 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ReThink Media find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 2017–2024), and the filings of 17 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