Washington · Nonprofit
Sightline Institute
Sightline Institute (Washington) receives grants from 60 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,130,826 to it, the largest being LAIDIR FOUNDATION ($4,152,000). 46 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.5M
- Funders on record
- 60
- Grants received
- $17M
- Net assets
- $7.6M
What Sightline Institute does
Mission
Independent, nonpartisan research, analysis, and policy solutions to advance strong communities, a green economy, and a healthy environment.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Since 1993, Sightline Institute has been the independent, nonpartisan think tank for Cascadia from the Rockies to the Pacific and from Alaska to Oregon. We provide citizens and decision-makers with the research, policy analysis, and practical tools they need to advance strong communities, a green economy, and a healthy environment. In 2025, our work contributed to the region's transition to clean energy, abundant housing options, and stronger democratic participation across the Northwest. Highlights included supporting a first-of-its-kind agreement to pilot neighborhood-scale electrification in Oregon, playing a key role in passing the nation's strongest statewide parking reform in Washington, and working alongside partners to defend Alaska's ranked choice voting system from repeal. We shared these solutions widely through in-depth research, media commentary, and public events, and worked to assemble the multi-partisan coalitions often needed to turn policy ideas into reality. All of our research is freely available under our open-use policy. Our core program areas are Climate and Energy, Housing and Cities, and Democracy and Elections.
$2,487,924 spentof which $21,790 as grants$1,550 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,487,924.
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 2022 to 2023, from $5.4M to $7.5M (+41%).
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.
92% of Sightline Institute’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 9 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
Alan Durning
Executive Director
Board chair
John McGarry
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 19 funders to 36 funders, grant income rose $1.5M → $2.9M.
16 of 60 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 30% 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 Sightline Institute’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 60 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
Sightline Institute has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 24% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
37% 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 Sightline Institute.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 43% · 2018 45% · 2019 20% · 2020 28% · 2021 21% · 2022 24% · 2023 19% — 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
55% of Sightline Institute's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 77% 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
77% of Sightline Institute's grant income comes from Washington funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
Sightline Institute runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,209 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,209 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like Sightline 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 Washington
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
63%
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 Sightline 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 Sightline Institute?
- Sightline Institute (Washington) receives grants from 60 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,130,826 to it, the largest being LAIDIR FOUNDATION ($4,152,000). 46 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Sightline Institute have?
- IRS filings report 60 organizations giving $17,130,826 in grants to Sightline Institute, 46 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Sightline Institute?
- LAIDIR FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $4,152,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Sightline Institute find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington. 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 60 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