California · Nonprofit
ZEPHYR INSTITUTE INC
ZEPHYR INSTITUTE INC (California) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,133,697 to it, the largest being Foundation For Excellence in Higher Education ($1,084,623). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $470k
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $2.1M
- Net assets
- $1.5M
What Zephyr Institute Inc does
Mission
The zephyr institute is a community of scholars, students and professionals committed to gaining a fuller understanding of the human person and the common good.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The zephyr institute's center of the study of first principles provides a forum for scholars, students and professionals to engage life's deepest and most enduring questions. From our flourishing society gatherings to our annual zephyr philosophy camp, first principles programs examine the fundamental concepts and assumptions on which popular moral, political and metaphysical theories are based.
$261,852 spentof which $31,202 as grants100% of program spendingZephyr's center for the study of the professions and moral purposehelps stanford students think deeply about the philosophicalfoundations and the telos of culture-shaping professions. As stanfordstudents prepare to pioneer developments in technology, medicine,business and media, they need not only practical know-how, but also aprofound understanding of how their work fits into the broader contextof human history, what the nature and purpose of their professions are,and how innovations in these fields might best serve the human family.the center for the study of the professions and moral purpose offers anopportunity for vigorous debate and profound inquiry into the nature,goals and responsibilities of the professions most directly shapingsocial norms.
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $261,852.
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 2019 to 2020, from $784k to $1.5M (+93%).
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 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
84% of ZEPHYR INSTITUTE INC’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (62% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 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.
Chief executive
Matthew Bowman
President and executive director
Board chair
Boyd Smith
Chairman
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 rose $110k → $290k.
8 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 33% 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 ZEPHYR 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
ZEPHYR INSTITUTE INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 51% of grant income and the top three 78%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
96% 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 ZEPHYR INSTITUTE INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 91% · 2018 95% · 2019 50% · 2020 69% · 2021 76% · 2022 60% · 2023 69% — 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
56% of ZEPHYR INSTITUTE INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 75% 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
ZEPHYR INSTITUTE INC draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside California, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $697k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
ZEPHYR INSTITUTE INC holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 11,971 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,971 community improvement nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like ZEPHYR 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 California
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
9%
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 ZEPHYR 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 ZEPHYR INSTITUTE INC?
- ZEPHYR INSTITUTE INC (California) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,133,697 to it, the largest being Foundation For Excellence in Higher Education ($1,084,623). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does ZEPHYR INSTITUTE INC have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $2,133,697 in grants to ZEPHYR INSTITUTE INC, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ZEPHYR INSTITUTE INC?
- Foundation For Excellence in Higher Education is the largest funder on record, with $1,084,623 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ZEPHYR INSTITUTE INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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