California · Nonprofit
THE BERKELEY INSTITUTE
THE BERKELEY INSTITUTE (California) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,823,651 to it, the largest being Foundation For Excellence in Higher Education ($1,457,651). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $453k
- Funders on record
- 9
- Grants received
- $1.8M
- Net assets
- $379k
What The Berkeley Institute does
Mission
The institute explores and passes on the principles of reason and order that underlie academic inquiry.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The Berkeley Institute is committed to preparing students for positions of academic and intellectual leadership. Its programs help them achieve an integrated education and prepare themselves for academic careers through exploration of classical traditions and a sustained, open, and rigorous encounter with contemporary thought. By these means, we prepare students to join the life of the american university confidently, thoughtfully, and with integrity. Finally, The Berkeley Institute seeks to form a community of scholars both at berkeley and elsewhere to support these efforts and exchange ideas through conferences, and programs; and at supporting the research of graduate students and younger faculty who promise to make a difference to the culture of american higher education.
$274,360 spent100% of program spendingNot described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $274,360.
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 $208k to $337k (+62%).
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: 2021 11%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of THE BERKELEY INSTITUTE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (57% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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
Dena Fehrenbacher
Executive director, treasu
Board chair
Fred Clark
Chairman and trustee
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $15k → $363k.
2 of 9 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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 THE BERKELEY INSTITUTE’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
THE BERKELEY INSTITUTE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 80% of grant income and the top three 93%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
84% 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 THE BERKELEY INSTITUTE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 67% · 2018 75% · 2019 57% · 2020 82% · 2021 84% · 2022 83% · 2023 87% — 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
57% of THE BERKELEY INSTITUTE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 78% 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
THE BERKELEY INSTITUTE draws 94% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 5 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $66k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
THE BERKELEY INSTITUTE runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 22,812 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 22,812 education nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding THE BERKELEY INSTITUTE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $30k on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$30k
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 THE BERKELEY 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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
59%
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 THE BERKELEY 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 THE BERKELEY INSTITUTE?
- THE BERKELEY INSTITUTE (California) receives grants from 9 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,823,651 to it, the largest being Foundation For Excellence in Higher Education ($1,457,651). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE BERKELEY INSTITUTE have?
- IRS filings report 9 organizations giving $1,823,651 in grants to THE BERKELEY INSTITUTE, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE BERKELEY INSTITUTE?
- Foundation For Excellence in Higher Education is the largest funder on record, with $1,457,651 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE BERKELEY INSTITUTE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Berkeley 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 9 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