Virginia · Nonprofit
SIGN RESEARCH FOUNDATION
SIGN RESEARCH FOUNDATION (Virginia) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,169 to it, the largest being ALTECSTYSLINGER FOUNDATION ($5,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $155k
- Funders on record
- 2
- Grants received
- $5k
- Net assets
- $783k
What Sign Research Foundation does
Mission
To educate the public about the social, economic and aesthetic value of signage to communities and businesses the foundation focuses on bringing education to sign users and to those who interact with sign users, including advertising agencies, lenders, appraisers, attorneys, regulators, businesses, franchisers, and designers.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Research projects - fund research regarding the value of signs to the public.
$20,939 spentof which $20,939 as grants$38,420 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $20,939.
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 $370k to $497k (+34%).
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.
65% of SIGN RESEARCH FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (99% 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.
Board chair
Matthew Shad
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $5k → $41.
1 of 2 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 3% 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: $593k from 2 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest International Sign Association). These are real filings, and they are not money SIGN RESEARCH FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of SIGN RESEARCH FOUNDATION’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
SIGN RESEARCH FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 97% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — broadly stable.
“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.
Where its funders are
SIGN RESEARCH FOUNDATION draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Virginia, across 1 state in all.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $169 arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
SIGN RESEARCH FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,798 civil rights nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,798 civil rights nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like SIGN RESEARCH FOUNDATION
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 Virginia
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
31% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- International Sign Association · exempt
- International Sign Association Political Action Committee · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SIGN RESEARCH FOUNDATION: 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 SIGN RESEARCH FOUNDATION?
- SIGN RESEARCH FOUNDATION (Virginia) receives grants from 2 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,169 to it, the largest being ALTECSTYSLINGER FOUNDATION ($5,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SIGN RESEARCH FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 2 organizations giving $5,169 in grants to SIGN RESEARCH FOUNDATION, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SIGN RESEARCH FOUNDATION?
- ALTECSTYSLINGER FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $5,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SIGN RESEARCH FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Virginia. 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 2 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