Arizona · Nonprofit
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY (Arizona) receives grants from 82 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,446,418 to it, the largest being CRAIG AND BARBARA BARRETT FOUNDATION ($471,025). 53 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.4M
- Funders on record
- 82
- Grants received
- $4.4M
- Net assets
- $3.5M
What Sandra Day O'Connor Institute for American Democracy does
Mission
The Sandra Day O'Connor Institute for American Democracy is a national non-profit organization dedicated to promoting civic engagement and education, founded by justice sandra day o'connor, the first woman to serve on the united states supreme court. The institute focuses on fostering a deeper understanding of democracy through multigenerational educational in-person and online programs and initiatives. It aims to engage individuals in discussions about civic responsibilities and the government. The institute also emphasizes the significance of non-partisan dialogue in strengthening democratic values and practices.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Civics for life: civics for life is a signature initiative of the Sandra Day O'Connor Institute for American Democracy, delivering and creating high-impact, multigenerational civic education, civic engagement, and civil discourse through its digital platform: civicsforlife.org. The site offers original videos, expert essays, podcasts, and interactive tools that engage hundreds of thousands of users nationwide in understanding and strengthening american democracy. Its public square program fosters meaningful, respectful dialogue on pressing civic issues while also modeling civil discourse.civics for life serves multigenerational learners, but the institute also leads a nationally recognized portfolio of youth programs-including camp o'connor usa, the o'connor civics challenge, and the o'connor institute ambassadors civics and debate club-which together continue the institute's impact in building civic knowledge and engagement across generations.
$1,124,567 spentof which $5,000 as grants93% of program spendingO'connor house preservation: the institute is responsible for the care and maintenance of the historic o'connor house, located on the grounds of the arizona heritage center in tempe, az. The site is listed in the national register of historic places and serves as a legacy landmark and educational venue honoring justice sandra day o'connor.
$88,467 spent7% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,213,034.
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 2023 to 2024, from $3.2M to $3.8M (+21%).
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.
114% of SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (61% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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
Sarah E Suggs
President/ CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 34 funders, grant income rose $67k → $737k.
8 of 82 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 10% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $1.7M from 3 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Burton Family Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY raised.
From the IRS filings of SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 82 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
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 11% of grant income, and it takes 8 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 8 funders to its left
36% 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 SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 23% · 2018 25% · 2019 20% · 2020 31% · 2021 24% · 2022 21% · 2023 15% — 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
45% of SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY'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
73% of SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY's grant income comes from Arizona funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $466k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 4,203 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,203 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
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 Arizona
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
68% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
85%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- House Management LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY: 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 SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY?
- SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY (Arizona) receives grants from 82 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,446,418 to it, the largest being CRAIG AND BARBARA BARRETT FOUNDATION ($471,025). 53 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY have?
- IRS filings report 82 organizations giving $4,446,418 in grants to SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY, 53 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY?
- CRAIG AND BARBARA BARRETT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $471,025 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Arizona. 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 82 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