Michigan · Nonprofit
THE RUSSELL KIRK CENTER FOR CULTURAL RENEWAL
THE RUSSELL KIRK CENTER FOR CULTURAL RENEWAL (Michigan) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,073,884 to it, the largest being The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc ($265,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 51% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $846k
- Funders on record
- 20
- Grants received
- $1.1M
- Net assets
- $1.3M
What The Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal does
Mission
The center's mission is to strengthen the cultural, economic, and philosophical foundations of western civilization and the american experience within it. Our programs celebrate and defend those permanent things that conserve a tradition of order, justice and freedom.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
I. Seminars: for students, scholars, teachers, and the public are held at the russell kirk center throughout the year. Participants come from throughout the united states and abroad. In addition, the kirk center co- sponsors seminars with public non-profit organizations including the intercollegiate studies institute, the liberty fund, the mcconnell center, the edmund burke society, and the society for law & culture. We also collaborate with hope college, hillsdale college, the gerald r. Ford presidential foundation, calvin university, the fund for american studies, and northwood university. Between 300-500 people attend weekend or day events at the center while hundreds more attend events at the universities with whom we cooperate.
$292,609 spentof which $53,000 as grants$35,266 earned by the program43% of program spendingIi. Fellowships: resident fellows conduct research for their theses, doctoral dissertations, or writing projects while staying in one of five houses next to the kirk center library during the fall, spring, or summer semesters. While in residence, they give presentations on the progress of their work and participate in the seminars held at the center. The center's aim is to foster a community of scholars who carry this experience into their future professional and civic communities. Visiting kirk scholars come for a week or two for research and lecture purposes. The center also has an active group of eight senior fellows that publish and otherwise represent the center in print and at conferences.
$49,292 spent7% of program spendingIii. Library and archive: the kirk center library consists of twelve thousand volumes and dozens of periodicals; a master file of kirk's articles, essays, reviews, and columns; a bibliography of all of kirk's writings; and an extensive archive of kirk's correspondence with presidents, poets, publishers, philosophers, historians, and literary figures. Kirk center personnel assist students, scholars, and journalists in finding material for their articles, dissertations, or books. The library is a unique building with conference rooms and an extensive archive. It is open and available to the fellows seven days a week. Community and college organizations hold meetings and events in the library on a regular basis.
$31,752 spent5% of program spendingIv. Publications: "the university bookman" was founded as a book review quarterly by russell kirk in 1960, and is now an online journal which publishes weekly. It posts more than 100 reviews, essays, and interviews annually and attracts a growing national audience. "studies in burke & his time" is a journal dedicated to the study, interpretation, and application of the life and thought of the statesman edmund burke. "permanent things" is the kirk center's biannual newsletter. The kirk center website contains information about kirk and his writings and announces news of the center's upcoming programs and fellowships. All journals and videos are posted free-of-charge on the russell kirk center website, and are viewed by thousands. In addition, the center arranges for the publication and translation of kirk's books in this country and abroad.
$302,134 spent45% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $675,787.
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 $1.1M to $1.6M (+45%).
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: 2020 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
93% of THE RUSSELL KIRK CENTER FOR CULTURAL RENEWAL’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. 6 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.
Board chair
T Kenneth Cribb Jr
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 10 funders, grant income rose $3k → $192k.
9 of 20 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 51% 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 RUSSELL KIRK CENTER FOR CULTURAL RENEWAL’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 RUSSELL KIRK CENTER FOR CULTURAL RENEWAL has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
51% 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 RUSSELL KIRK CENTER FOR CULTURAL RENEWAL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 62% · 2020 33% · 2021 28% · 2022 26% · 2023 31% — 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
50% of THE RUSSELL KIRK CENTER FOR CULTURAL RENEWAL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 50% 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
51% of THE RUSSELL KIRK CENTER FOR CULTURAL RENEWAL'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 $530k that is directly attributable, 92% of it comes from funders outside Michigan, across 9 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $544k arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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 RUSSELL KIRK CENTER FOR CULTURAL RENEWAL has grown faster than three-quarters 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 RUSSELL KIRK CENTER FOR CULTURAL RENEWAL receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $35k on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$35k
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 RUSSELL KIRK CENTER FOR CULTURAL RENEWAL
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 Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
66% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
61%
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 RUSSELL KIRK CENTER FOR CULTURAL RENEWAL: 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 RUSSELL KIRK CENTER FOR CULTURAL RENEWAL?
- THE RUSSELL KIRK CENTER FOR CULTURAL RENEWAL (Michigan) receives grants from 20 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,073,884 to it, the largest being The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc ($265,000). 10 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 51% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE RUSSELL KIRK CENTER FOR CULTURAL RENEWAL have?
- IRS filings report 20 organizations giving $1,073,884 in grants to THE RUSSELL KIRK CENTER FOR CULTURAL RENEWAL, 10 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE RUSSELL KIRK CENTER FOR CULTURAL RENEWAL?
- The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $265,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE RUSSELL KIRK CENTER FOR CULTURAL RENEWAL find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal →
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 20 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