Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
THE REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
THE REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 118 organizations whose IRS filings report $25,112,772 to it, the largest being THE MIAMI FOUNDATION INC ($3,210,165). 69 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $16M
- Funders on record
- 118
- Grants received
- $25M
- Net assets
- $29M
What The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press does
Mission
To protect the right to gather and distribute news; to keep government accountable by ensuring access to public records, meetings and courtrooms; and to preserve the principles of free speech and unfettered press, as guaranteed by the first amendment of the u.s. Constitution.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Legal defense and researchthe committee provides around-the-clock, pro bono services to all news media. It offers free legal assistance and research to journalists and attorneys, files amicus briefs, publishes numerous guides and materials, and speaks out against threats to the freedom of the press. The committee undertakes legal defense and research projects in all areas of media law, and assists journalists and news organizations with freedom of information and access-to-court cases. The legal defense and research program includes the following:pre-publication legal services - the committee provides these services to freelance and independent journalists including documentary filmmakers.publications - the committee publishes and maintains a blog, various online legal guides and other materials, including the freedom of information act (foia) wiki, for gathering and disseminating the news. The committee's internet website provides content on media law and journalism, which is updated on a daily basis.fellowship/internship programs - the committee offers law fellowships for recent law school graduates and an internship program for journalism and law students each summer and during…
$5,969,326 spent$222,047 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $5,969,326.
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.
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 $22M to $31M (+41%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Board chair
Stephen Adler
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 26 funders to 38 funders, grant income rose $1.3M → $2.9M.
24 of 118 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 41% 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 REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 118 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 REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 13% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
48% 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 REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 24% · 2018 24% · 2019 30% · 2020 11% · 2021 14% · 2022 15% · 2023 14% — 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
44% of THE REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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 REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS draws 87% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 22 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 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.
Organizations like THE REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
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
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
78%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 43 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS: 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 REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS?
- THE REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 118 organizations whose IRS filings report $25,112,772 to it, the largest being THE MIAMI FOUNDATION INC ($3,210,165). 69 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS have?
- IRS filings report 118 organizations giving $25,112,772 in grants to THE REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, 69 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS?
- THE MIAMI FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $3,210,165 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS 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 Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press →
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 118 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing