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Vermont · Nonprofit

VERMONT PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP INC

VERMONT PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP INC (Vermont) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $565,520 to it, the largest being Article IV ($275,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$1.4M
Funders on record
12
Grants received
$566k
Net assets
$1.4M
7/12 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 15%
01What it does

What Vermont Public Interest Research Group Inc does

Mission

Founded in 1972, the vermont public interest research group (vpirg) is the largest nonprofit consumer and environmental advocacy organization in vermont. For five decades, vpirg has brought the voices of everyday vermonters to public policy debates concerning the environment, health care, consumer protection, and democracy. Vpirg's mission is to promote and protect the health of vermont's people, environment, and locally-based economy by informing and mobilizing individuals and communities across the state.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. General membership services: as the largest membership-based environmental and consumer advocacy organization in the state, vpirg provides educational and informational resources on our campaigns and related issues to tens of thousands of members and supporters annually. Vpirg continues to serve as the go-to resource for individuals and groups to learn about public interest policy issues and opportunities for making their voices heard on issues at critical times throughout the year.

    $395,873 spent
    29% of program spending
  2. Climate and energy:our climate & energy work is driven by the understanding that we must decarbonize both vermont and the nation, and that everyone deserves access to clean and affordable energy and transportation. Breaking down barriers contributing to rural, bipoc, and low-income communities being left behind in this transition is a core part of our efforts.continued on schedule oin 2024, vpirg pressed to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for the damage it has caused to vermont residents, businesses, and communities through climate change. Vpirg also supported efforts to update vermont's clean electricity requirements with one of the strongest renewable energy standards in the nation.

    $600,080 spentof which $369,998 as grants
    44% of program spending
  3. Democracy:vpirg actively supports efforts to make our democracy more open and transparent. We seek to ensure that elections are fair and accessible, and we are committed to reducing the undue influence of money in our political process.continued on schedule oin 2024, vpirg supported efforts statewide that would reduce the influence of corporations in our elections, increase transparency from political action committees, protect the rights of traditionally disenfranchised individuals, and improve the presidential primary process in the state by adopting ranked choice voting.

    $137,057 spentof which $31,816 as grants
    10% of program spending
  4. Environmental healthvpirg works to protect public health and our environment from the hidden dangers of toxic chemicals that vermonters are often exposed to in our everyday lives. In 2024, vpirg successfully helped to enact legislation to protect pollinators in vermont by phasing out the use of toxic neonic pesticides. We also pressed successfully for new legislation to protect vermonters from pfas toxins in a wide range of products including cosmetics, menstrual products, textiles, and more.

    $156,620 spentof which $67,758 as grants
    11% of program spending
  5. Zero waste vpirg works to advance policies and solutions that hold manufacturers accountable for the products they put into our environment and move us closer to zero waste in vermont. In 2024, vpirg continued to support the modernization of vermont's popular bottle bill program. We also focused significant attention on the problem of plastic pollution, aimed primarily at reducing the quantity and toxicity of plastics, particularly single-use plastics.

    $49,812 spentof which $30,428 as grants
    4% of program spending
  6. Health care reform and miscellaneous programsvpirg works to reform our health care system so that it provides all vermonters access to quality, affordable health care when they need it. We remain committed to advancing policies that ensure no vermonter ever has to decide between receiving a paycheck or caring for a loved one.

    $3,297 spent
    0% of program spending
  7. Consumer protectionvpirg serves as a watchdog, protecting the public interest when corporations attempt to put profits over people, and ensures that the policies and laws that we do pass to protect the public interest are, in fact, enforced. In recent years, vpirg's consumer protection program has placed a specific emphasis on working for policies that protect consumers in the digital space. In 2024, vpirg supported comprehensive consumer data privacy legislation that would have given vermont consumers greater control over if and how companies use their sensitive personal information. We also supported fair repair legislation that would have required agricultural equipment manufacturers to provide farmers and independent repair providerson fair and reasonable termsaccess to the parts, tools and information necessary to fix their equipment.

    $32,392 spent
    2% of program spending

The 7 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,375,131.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($1.5M) Expenses 100 ($1.4M) Net assets 100 ($1.5M)2018 Revenue 101 ($1.5M) Expenses 71 ($1.0M) Net assets 131 ($2.0M)2019 Revenue 101 ($1.5M) Expenses 64 ($919k) Net assets 168 ($2.6M)2020 Revenue 74 ($1.1M) Expenses 44 ($628k) Net assets 198 ($3.1M)2021 Revenue 89 ($1.3M) Expenses 116 ($1.7M) Net assets 175 ($2.7M)2022 Revenue 99 ($1.5M) Expenses 122 ($1.7M) Net assets 156 ($2.4M)2023 Revenue 102 ($1.5M) Expenses 129 ($1.9M) Net assets 133 ($2.1M)2024 Revenue 93 ($1.4M) Expenses 139 ($2.0M) Net assets 93 ($1.4M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (93)Expenses (139)Net assets (93)

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $2.1M to $1.5M (−30%).

$1.6M
$2.1M
$2.6M
$3.1M
$2.7M
$2.5M
$2.1M
$1.5M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$39k
’17
$474k
’18
$575k
’19
$458k
’20
−$356k
’21
−$285k
’22
−$355k
’23
−$616k
’24
3.3
months of
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

Paul Burns

Executive director

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed1716181718181818
Joined·+1+3+2+3+4+3+3
No longer listed·2132433
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $700 → $225k.

1 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 12% 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 VERMONT PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP 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

VERMONT PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 49% of grant income and the top three 72%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

85% 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 VERMONT PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP INC.

49%
largest funder
72%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 99% · 2020 64% · 2021 60% · 2022 42% · 2023 89% — 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

25% of VERMONT PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y

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

VERMONT PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP INC draws 99% of its grant income from funders outside Vermont, across 9 states in all.

VT
NY
MA
OH
CA
CO
VA
MD
DE

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Vermont out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $70k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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.

04Its place in the field

Organizations like VERMONT PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP 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 Vermont

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

69% of spending goes to programs.

Program 69%Management 21%Fundraising 10%

Governance

15
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Footprint & structure

Part of a family of 3 related entities

  • Vt Public Interest Res & Educ Fund Inc · exempt
  • Vpirg Votes · exempt
  • Vpirg Votes Action Fund · exempt

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for VERMONT PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP 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.

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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 VERMONT PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP INC?
VERMONT PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP INC (Vermont) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $565,520 to it, the largest being Article IV ($275,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does VERMONT PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP INC have?
IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $565,520 in grants to VERMONT PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP INC, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of VERMONT PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP INC?
Article IV is the largest funder on record, with $275,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like VERMONT PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Vermont. 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 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