Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
SOCIAL SECURITY WORKS EDUCATION FUND
SOCIAL SECURITY WORKS EDUCATION FUND (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,590,737 to it, the largest being GREATER WASHINGTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($1,032,500). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 66% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.0M
- Funders on record
- 24
- Grants received
- $3.6M
- Net assets
- $1.9M
What Social Security Works Education Fund does
Mission
To educate the general public, media, and policy-makers about the benefits of protecting social security benefits; to protect and improve the economic status of disadvantaged and at-risk populations, and, in so doing, to promote social justice for current and future generations of children as well as young, middle-aged and older adults; to oppose any cuts to social security benefits, including increasing the retirement age and oppose any effort to privatize social security. This corporation is organized and operated exclusively for educational purposes within the meaning of section 501(c)(3) of the internal revenue code
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
The Social Security Works Education Fund created numerous written policy resources explaining complex policy issues in accessible everday language. Ssw ef created numerous fact sheets and resources that were crucial in the politically charged and fast-moving environments of various budget and fiscal debates in washington, d. C. Social Security Works Education Fund also educated the public through more than twenty in-person trainings, and by sponsoring a radio show, the zero hour, dedicated to strengthening the information environment around issues of economic justice, particularly proposals that would impact our social security system.
$1,802,339 spent$4,019,151 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,802,339.
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 $24k to $1.9M (+7955%).
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.
100% of SOCIAL SECURITY WORKS EDUCATION FUND’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Alexander Lawson
Executive director
Board chair
Eric Kingson
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base held at 1 funder, grant income fell $155k → $50.
12 of 24 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 66% 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 SOCIAL SECURITY WORKS EDUCATION FUND’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 23 of 24 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
SOCIAL SECURITY WORKS EDUCATION FUND has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 29% 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
83% 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 SOCIAL SECURITY WORKS EDUCATION FUND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 100% · 2019 100% · 2020 33% · 2021 99% · 2022 37% · 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.
How long its funders stay
14% of SOCIAL SECURITY WORKS EDUCATION FUND's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 33% 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
66% of SOCIAL SECURITY WORKS EDUCATION FUND'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 $1.2M that is directly attributable, 81% of it comes from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 6 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.4M 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
SOCIAL SECURITY WORKS EDUCATION FUND runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,003 public benefit nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,003 public benefit nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like SOCIAL SECURITY WORKS EDUCATION FUND
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
90% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Social Security Works · exempt
- Social Security Works PAC · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SOCIAL SECURITY WORKS EDUCATION FUND: 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 SOCIAL SECURITY WORKS EDUCATION FUND?
- SOCIAL SECURITY WORKS EDUCATION FUND (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,590,737 to it, the largest being GREATER WASHINGTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($1,032,500). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 66% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does SOCIAL SECURITY WORKS EDUCATION FUND have?
- IRS filings report 24 organizations giving $3,590,737 in grants to SOCIAL SECURITY WORKS EDUCATION FUND, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SOCIAL SECURITY WORKS EDUCATION FUND?
- GREATER WASHINGTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,032,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SOCIAL SECURITY WORKS EDUCATION FUND 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.
Play a game about who funds Social Security Works Education →
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 24 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