Massachusetts · Nonprofit
TOBIN PROJECT INC
TOBIN PROJECT INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,965,535 to it, the largest being THE MAI FAMILY FOUNDATION ($1,750,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $440k
- Funders on record
- 11
- Grants received
- $4.0M
- Net assets
- $1.1M
What Tobin Project Inc does
Mission
The tobin project is a catalyst for new academic thinking on the most pressing national challenges of the 21st century - promoting richer public discourse, stronger public governance, and better public policy through greater understanding.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Democracy and markets: promoting new research in the field of democracy and markets.
$145,296 spent36% of program spendingExperimentation and pedagogy: exploring new ways of furthering our mission and developing outstanding case-based teaching materials across the social sciences.
$206,744 spent51% of program spendingThe tobin project undertakes follow-up work on major research from prior years as well as exploration of promising research projects going forward.
$53,678 spent13% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $405,718.
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 2017 to 2018, from $2.9M to $2.2M (−23%).
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.
97% of TOBIN PROJECT INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (84% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 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
David Moss
President and chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income fell $400k → $366k.
5 of 11 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 22% 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 TOBIN PROJECT 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
TOBIN PROJECT INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 71%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 81% · 2018 54% · 2019 71% · 2020 41% · 2021 36% · 2022 65% · 2023 68% — 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 TOBIN PROJECT INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 73% 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
TOBIN PROJECT INC draws 90% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 4 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $866k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
TOBIN PROJECT INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,130 public benefit nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,130 public benefit nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like TOBIN PROJECT 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
65% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
49%
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 TOBIN PROJECT 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 TOBIN PROJECT INC?
- TOBIN PROJECT INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 11 organizations whose IRS filings report $3,965,535 to it, the largest being THE MAI FAMILY FOUNDATION ($1,750,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does TOBIN PROJECT INC have?
- IRS filings report 11 organizations giving $3,965,535 in grants to TOBIN PROJECT INC, 8 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of TOBIN PROJECT INC?
- THE MAI FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,750,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like TOBIN PROJECT 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.
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 11 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