Pennsylvania · Nonprofit
THE COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC POLICY ALTERNATIVES
THE COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC POLICY ALTERNATIVES (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $41,423,954 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($24,229,974). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 71% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $12M
- Funders on record
- 34
- Grants received
- $41M
- Net assets
- $9.1M
What The Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives does
Mission
The commonwealth foundation transforms free-market ideas into public policies, empowering all pennsylvanians to thrive.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Policy analysis: the commonwealth foundation conducts vigorous research to develop data-driven free-market policy solutions, in addition to offering analysis of existing policies and programs, disseminating these resources through our public affairs and government affairs programs.
$4,022,920 spent63% of program spendingGovernment affairs: the commonwealth foundation works directly with lawmakers, elected officials, and their teams to educate them and advocate for free-market policies through meetings, briefings, and other formats, including email, mail, and hand delivery to the state capitol.
$1,277,118 spent20% of program spendingPublic affairs & media: the commonwealth foundation distills and disseminates its policy information through compelling messaging to reach key audiences, including lawmakers, other policy-focused organizations, and the interested public.
$1,085,550 spentof which $92,681 as grants17% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,385,588.
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 2024 to 2025, from $6.9M to $11M (+61%).
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.
98% of THE COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC POLICY ALTERNATIVES’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (30% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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
Andrew J Lewis
President & CEO
Board chair
George Gh Coates Jr
Director & chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 20 funders, grant income rose $314k → $6.8M.
16 of 34 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 71% 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 COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC POLICY ALTERNATIVES’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 34 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 COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC POLICY ALTERNATIVES leans on a few funders — its largest provides 58% of grant income and the top three 75%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
75% 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 COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC POLICY ALTERNATIVES.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 97% · 2018 53% · 2019 38% · 2020 21% · 2021 53% · 2022 60% · 2023 67% — 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
58% of THE COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC POLICY ALTERNATIVES's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 76% 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
71% of THE COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC POLICY ALTERNATIVES'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 $12M that is directly attributable, 57% of it comes from Pennsylvania funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $29M 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
THE COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC POLICY ALTERNATIVES runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters 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 COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC POLICY ALTERNATIVES
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 Pennsylvania
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
89%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 12 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC POLICY ALTERNATIVES: 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 COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC POLICY ALTERNATIVES?
- THE COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC POLICY ALTERNATIVES (Pennsylvania) receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $41,423,954 to it, the largest being VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ($24,229,974). 26 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 71% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC POLICY ALTERNATIVES have?
- IRS filings report 34 organizations giving $41,423,954 in grants to THE COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC POLICY ALTERNATIVES, 26 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC POLICY ALTERNATIVES?
- VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM is the largest funder on record, with $24,229,974 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION FOR PUBLIC POLICY ALTERNATIVES find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Pennsylvania. 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 34 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