California · Nonprofit
The Center for Investigative Reporting formrly Foundation for National Progress
The Center for Investigative Reporting formrly Foundation for National Progress (California) receives grants from 195 organizations whose IRS filings report $40,801,707 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($4,648,670). 101 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $28M
- Funders on record
- 195
- Grants received
- $41M
- Net assets
- $6.2M
What The Center for Investigative Reporting formrly Foundation for National Progress does
Mission
Fellowship program. Since its founding, cirs goal has been to produce, in the words of our mission statement, revelatory journalism that in its power and reach informs and inspires a more just and democratic world. (continued on schedule o)
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Program service accomplishment #1 Investigative ReportingThreats to Democracy:Mother Jones was the first national outlet to report on voter suppression regularly and deeply, exploring how the push for minority rule may be the greatest threat to our democracy. We are seeing critical stories playing out at the state and local level, where our team has built expertise. In Arizona, we reported on the slate of election deniers who nearly captured the states top offices, and on the regular citizens who worked tirelessly to stop them. In Georgia and Pennsylvania, we explored how voter intimidation and disinformation, and election denial shaped the midterms. And in Galveston County, Texas, we reported on how political operatives were working to ensure there would be no representation by people of (Continued on Schedule O)
$20,427,708 spent$4,324,201 earned by the program96% of program spendingProgram service accomplishment #2 Fellowship ProgramSince 1980, Mother Jones has placed an emphasis on creating opportunities for aspiring journalists through the Ben Bagdikian Fellowship Program. While there are a number of general journalism and reporting internships available for students or recent college graduates, only Mother Jones puts such an emphasis on investigative reporting. Among the largest training programs in the independent media community, the Ben Bagdikian Fellowship Program gives aspiring journalists intensive training in what it takes to publish outstanding, independent journalism, to meet deadlines, and to work as part of a professional team. It is a rare opportunity for new journalists to work alongside some of the top reporters and journalists in the business, and to learn the inner workings of multimedia (Continued on Schedule O)
$749,869 spent4% of program spendingCorruption:During this fiscal year, we devoted significant journalistic resources to exploring how shadowy wealth distorts public policy, most potently in our recent package How Private Equity Looted America. In it, we explored how private equity has become one of the most powerful hidden forces in our economy, touching nearly every sector of our lives, but is barely covered outside the business pages. We set out to change that, rallying the newsroom to produce a formidable online and print package of 15 stories, including in-depth features, first-person accounts, and a video investigating the fleecing of the American economy. The package galvanized activists, led to media appearances, and received an honorable mention from the Association of Business Journalists. (Continued on Schedule O)
Program service accomplishment #1 Investigative Reporting(continued from Form 990 Page 2)color in a county that is 45 percent non-white. Corruption: During this fiscal year, we devoted significant journalistic resources to exploring how shadowy wealth distorts public policy, most potently in our recent package How Private Equity Looted America. In it, we explored how private equity has become one of the most powerful hidden forces in our economy, touching nearly every sector of our lives, but is barely covered outside the business pages. We set out to change that, rallying the newsroom to produce a formidable online and print package of 15 stories, including in-depth features, first-person accounts, and a video investigating the fleecing of the American economy. The package galvanized activists, led to media appearances, and received an honorable mention from the Association of Business Journalists. Gender Justice and Reproductive Rights: For as long as abortion rights have been at risk, Mother Jones has covered this story deeply. When other newsrooms dismissed the possibility of a post-Roe future, we turned a clear-eyed gaze to the issue and showed how conservatives were…
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $21,177,577.
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 $7.7M to $12M (+57%).
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: 2018 1% · 2021 12% · 2022 9% · 2023 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
80% of The Center for Investigative Reporting formrly Foundation for National Progress’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (30% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Monika Bauerlein
President & CEO
Board chair
Sara Frankel
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 53 funders to 67 funders, grant income rose $2.8M → $6.2M.
42 of 195 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 45% 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 Center for Investigative Reporting formrly Foundation for National Progress’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 195 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
The Center for Investigative Reporting formrly Foundation for National Progress has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 11% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
46% 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 Center for Investigative Reporting formrly Foundation for National Progress.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 22% · 2018 21% · 2019 21% · 2020 24% · 2021 16% · 2022 22% · 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
37% of The Center for Investigative Reporting formrly Foundation for National Progress's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% 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 Center for Investigative Reporting formrly Foundation for National Progress draws 72% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 28 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $18M arriving through sponsors registered in 16 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 Center for Investigative Reporting formrly Foundation for National Progress runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 132 public benefit nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 132 public benefit nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like The Center for Investigative Reporting formrly Foundation for National Progress
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
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
45%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 50 states
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- The Grab LLC · disregarded
- Center for Investigative Reporting Studi · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for The Center for Investigative Reporting formrly Foundation for National Progress: 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 Center for Investigative Reporting formrly Foundation for National Progress?
- The Center for Investigative Reporting formrly Foundation for National Progress (California) receives grants from 195 organizations whose IRS filings report $40,801,707 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($4,648,670). 101 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does The Center for Investigative Reporting formrly Foundation for National Progress have?
- IRS filings report 195 organizations giving $40,801,707 in grants to The Center for Investigative Reporting formrly Foundation for National Progress, 101 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of The Center for Investigative Reporting formrly Foundation for National Progress?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $4,648,670 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like The Center for Investigative Reporting formrly Foundation for National Progress 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.
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 195 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