Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND
SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 94 organizations whose IRS filings report $76,667,022 to it, the largest being FREEDOM HOUSE ($39,067,327). 54 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $41M
- Funders on record
- 94
- Grants received
- $77M
- Net assets
- $8.2M
What Search for Common Ground does
Mission
Our mission is to transform the way the world deals with conflict, away from adversarial approaches and toward cooperative solutions. Our programs work to bridge diving lines and encourage collaboration. Our common ground approach drives change in three steps: humanize divided people through their shared interests and pursuits; mobilize people around shared concerns and aspirations; and systematize cooperation through changed institutions and cultural norms.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
In africa, sfcg works to transform conflict across more than 12 countries. Our projects involve multiple stakeholders in activities including capacity building, dialogue, joint activities, and media outreach. Our work involves youth, women, civil society organizations and institutional partners.
$15,107,505 spentof which $2,718,302 as grants$985 earned by the program50% of program spendingIn the middle east, sfcg works to transform conflict across five countries. Our programs bring together conflicting parties for dialogue, capacity building and joint projects. Our work involves media production and outreach, engaging youth, women and institutional stakeholders.
$2,738,298 spentof which $667,475 as grants9% of program spendingIn asia, sfcg works to transform conflict across more than five countries. Our programs engage youth, media and institutional partners through dialogue, capacity building, joint activities, including media production and outreach.
$6,322,635 spentof which $1,281,276 as grants21% of program spendingGlobal programs
$5,757,774 spentof which $2,232,378 as grants19% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $29,926,212.
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 2018 to 2019, from $39M to $11M (−72%).
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 54% · 2018 53% · 2019 74% · 2020 62% · 2021 66% · 2022 67% · 2023 60% · 2024 51%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (96% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 16 funders to 36 funders, grant income rose $1.2M → $15M.
26 of 94 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.
From the IRS filings of SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 94 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
SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND leans on a few funders — its largest provides 51% of grant income and the top three 61%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
77% 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 SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 30% · 2018 32% · 2019 45% · 2020 29% · 2021 61% · 2022 64% · 2023 65% — growing more concentrated.
“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
38% of SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 57% 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
59% of SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND's grant income comes from Washington, D.C. funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $8.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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
SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND's funding base is broadening — from 16 funders to 36 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 363 international nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Government funding SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $56.5M on record.
- Department of State$28.8M
- Agency for International Development$26.0M
- Department of Homeland Security$1.5M
- Department of Health and Human Services$150k
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 SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND
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
92%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 36 states
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Soliya Inc · exempt
- The Preemptive Love Coalition · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND: 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 SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND?
- SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 94 organizations whose IRS filings report $76,667,022 to it, the largest being FREEDOM HOUSE ($39,067,327). 54 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND have?
- IRS filings report 94 organizations giving $76,667,022 in grants to SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND, 54 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND?
- FREEDOM HOUSE is the largest funder on record, with $39,067,327 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND 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 2017–2024), and the filings of 94 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