Massachusetts · Nonprofit
THE RIGHT QUESTION INSTITUTE INC
THE RIGHT QUESTION INSTITUTE INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,340,040 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($5,682,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 91% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $7.3M
- Net assets
- $3.0M
What The Right Question Institute Inc does
Mission
The right question institute advances an original educational strategy that makes it possible for all people to ask their own questions. The transformational skill of asking questions enhances learning, promotes empowerment, and strengthens democracy. People - including those furthest from power - can use this skill to think and learn independently, participate meaningfully in decisions that affect them, and advocate on behalf of themselves, their families, and their communities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
The right question institute is dedicated to the development of an innovative education strategy for teaching people how to think and advocate for themselves and their families, and how to act more effectively as citizens in a democratic society. During the year, rqi used different methods for disseminating educational strategy, including on-site training, hosting of training institutes, technical assistance and distribution of rqi educational products.
$1,159,471 spent$157,201 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,159,471.
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 $1.7M to $3.6M (+111%).
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% · 2025 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
76% of THE RIGHT QUESTION INSTITUTE INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (61% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 5 funders to 4 funders, grant income rose $536k → $571k.
8 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 91% 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 RIGHT QUESTION INSTITUTE INC’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 RIGHT QUESTION INSTITUTE INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 77% of grant income and the top three 87%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
92% 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 RIGHT QUESTION INSTITUTE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 42% · 2018 80% · 2019 68% · 2020 73% · 2021 88% · 2022 93% · 2023 97% — 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
67% of THE RIGHT QUESTION INSTITUTE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 83% 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
91% of THE RIGHT QUESTION INSTITUTE INC'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 $650k that is directly attributable, 88% of it comes from funders outside Massachusetts, across 3 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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 RIGHT QUESTION INSTITUTE INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 2,127 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,127 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding THE RIGHT QUESTION INSTITUTE INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $14k on record.
- Pass thru Grant Non-State$13k
- Educ & Training For Employees$500
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 RIGHT QUESTION INSTITUTE INC
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 Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
69% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
77%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 3 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE RIGHT QUESTION INSTITUTE INC: 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 RIGHT QUESTION INSTITUTE INC?
- THE RIGHT QUESTION INSTITUTE INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,340,040 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ($5,682,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 91% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE RIGHT QUESTION INSTITUTE INC have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $7,340,040 in grants to THE RIGHT QUESTION INSTITUTE INC, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE RIGHT QUESTION INSTITUTE INC?
- NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $5,682,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE RIGHT QUESTION INSTITUTE INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. 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 Right Question Institute →
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 12 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