Missouri · Nonprofit
SHOW-ME INSTITUTE
SHOW-ME INSTITUTE (Missouri) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,133,278 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($4,710,358). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 83% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.8M
- Funders on record
- 35
- Grants received
- $6.1M
- Net assets
- $3.0M
What Show-Me Institute does
Mission
To research, develop and advance public policies that enhance economic growth and opportunity for all residents of missouri.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Show-Me Institute published fifteen (15) studies, essays, and reports by staff, twenty-one (21) commentaries, and 178 blog posts, related to various topics including education, transportation, state taxes, and missouri's economic growth. The studies, essays and reports were made available to the public in print form, commentaries were published in newspapers, and all studies, essays, reports, commentaries, and blog posts are made available to the public online.
$899,086 spent64% of program spendingDrafted and disseminated newsletters, reports and other correspondence regarding institute research and events.
$287,067 spent20% of program spendingIn and throughout missouri, Show-Me Institute hosted lectures both in-person and virtual, participated in public events and presentations either in-person or through video conferencing, and appeared in numerous media outlets, I.e., radio and television, to present its research findings to local and state nonprofit, legislative, media, and citizen groups. With respect to lectures and seminars, the institute sponsored or co-sponsored five (5) evening lectures (by noted experts), three in st. Louis, one in kansas city, and one in columbia, and four (4) virtual town halls with noted scholars and staff, all opened to the public. The institute sponsored two (2) in-person day forums in missouri, one in joplin and one in springfield; both opened to the public. The institute also participated in the creation of fifty-one (51) podcasts related to its research topics.
$219,453 spent$5,680 earned by the program16% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,405,606.
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 $2.6M to $3.1M (+19%).
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.
95% of SHOW-ME INSTITUTE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (82% 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
Brenda Talent
CEO
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $669k → $731k.
10 of 35 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 83% 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 SHOW-ME INSTITUTE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 35 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
SHOW-ME INSTITUTE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 77% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
88% 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 SHOW-ME INSTITUTE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 77% · 2018 87% · 2019 91% · 2020 85% · 2021 29% · 2022 68% · 2023 72% — 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
38% of SHOW-ME INSTITUTE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
83% of SHOW-ME INSTITUTE's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $1.0M that is directly attributable, 58% of it comes from Missouri funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
SHOW-ME INSTITUTE holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 2,910 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,910 philanthropy nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like SHOW-ME INSTITUTE
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 Missouri
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
67%
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
- Show-Me Opportunity · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SHOW-ME INSTITUTE: 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 SHOW-ME INSTITUTE?
- SHOW-ME INSTITUTE (Missouri) receives grants from 35 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,133,278 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($4,710,358). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 83% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SHOW-ME INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 35 organizations giving $6,133,278 in grants to SHOW-ME INSTITUTE, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SHOW-ME INSTITUTE?
- DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $4,710,358 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SHOW-ME INSTITUTE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. 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 Show-Me Institute →
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 35 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