Grantmakers › District of Columbia
Public Citizen Foundation Inc
Washington, DC · EIN 52-1263996. Reported 86 grants totalling $5,757,373 to 55 organizations across tax years 2020-2023, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. For Public Citizen Foundation Inc, the IRS classifies it under public & societal benefit rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE W70Z) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 55 distinct organizations, with 35% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
- How much its list changes. 43% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% private foundations manage. A list that turns over this much is one a newcomer can realistically join.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $20,000. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $68,382; the smallest was $5,200 and the largest $513,650. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund | Washington, DC | $2,013,650 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| Public Citizen Inc | Washington, DC | $475,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Coalition for Sensible Safeguar Ds Inc | Washington, DC | $457,800 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Air Alliance Houston | Houston, TX | $362,723 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| Coalition of Community Organizations | Houston, TX | $299,274 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| Texas Health and Environment Alliance Inc | Houston, TX | $257,876 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| Achieving Community Task Successfully | Houston, TX | $242,150 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| Fair Shot Texas | Austin, TX | $200,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| East Harris County Empowerment Council | Houston, TX | $199,400 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| Democracy 21 Education Fund | Washington, DC | $135,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Stand Up America Inc | New York, NY | $105,000 | 3 | 3 | 2022 |
| Philadelphia Primitive Baptist Church | Port St Joe, FL | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Bayou City Waterkeeper Inc | Houston, TX | $93,400 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Environmental Community Advocates of Galena Park | Galena Park, TX | $80,800 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Common Defense Education Fund Inc | New York, NY | $69,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Isaiah | Saint Paul, MN | $65,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Network Education Program | Washington, DC | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Arizona Center for Empowerment | Phoenix, AZ | $45,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Fort Bend County Houston Environmental Organization | Fresno, TX | $40,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Energy Programs Consortium | Washington, DC | $37,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Carolina for All Education Foundation | Hopkins, SC | $31,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Constitutional Accountability Center | Washington, DC | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Texas Solar Energy Society Inc | Bastrop, TX | $25,500 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| People for the American Way Foundation | Washington, DC | $25,000 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Center for American Progress | Washington, DC | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Centro Por La Justicia | San Antonio, TX | $18,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Environment Texas Research and Policy Center | Austin, TX | $18,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Indivisible Project | Washington, DC | $15,200 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Generation Vote Education Fund | Brooklyn, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Promote the Vote | Lansing, MI | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Natural Resources Defense Council Inc | New York, NY | $12,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Union of Concerned Scientists Inc | Cambridge, MA | $12,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Progeorgia State Table Inc | Atlanta, GA | $10,900 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| All Voting Is Local | Washington, DC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote Inc | Washington, DC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Center for Common Ground | Ruther Glen, VA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Center for Popular Democracy | Washington, DC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Inc | Washington, DC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Common Cause Education Fund | Washington, DC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law | Washington, DC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| League of Women Voters Education Fund | Cedar Rapids, IA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Our Revolution | Chattanooga, TN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Empowering Arizona | Scottsdale, AZ | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Jolt Action | Austin, TX | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Race Matters | Lewisburg, WV | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc | Aberdeen, MD | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Missouri Win | Richmond Hts, MO | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| National Black Leadership Caucus | Ontario, CA | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Equal Ground Education Fund Inc | Orlando, FL | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Healthy Gulf | New Orleans, LA | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Alabama Association for the Arts | Huntsville, AL | $6,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Alabama Forward | Montgomery, AL | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Greater New Haven Branch of the NAACP | New Haven, CT | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| In This Together Nepa Inc | Mountain Top, PA | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The National Organization of Concerned Black Men | Hyattsville, MD | $5,200 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
17 of 55 (31%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.
- Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund
REDUCING FOSSIL-FUEL FINANCE THROUGH FINANCIAL REGULATION - Public Citizen Inc
RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF CONGRESS WATCH - Coalition for Sensible Safeguards
ASSIST THE COALITION FOR SENSIBLE SAFEGUARDS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE REGULATORY STATE. - Air Alliance Houston
TO SUPPORT ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY - Coalition of Community Organizations
SUPPORT AS A MEMBER OF HEALTH PORT COMMUNITIES COALITION (HPCC) - Fair Shot Texas
TEXAS CLIMATE JOBS PROJECT
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 45 of 55 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 23 | $1,104,328 | $10,000 |
| 2021 | 14 | $956,893 | $30,500 |
| 2022 | 29 | $1,648,243 | $15,000 |
| 2023 | 20 | $2,047,909 | $80,100 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
58% of its giving went to organizations in District of Columbia. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
Down to the city
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Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available that two funders have overlapping priorities -- and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.
How to approach this grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $20,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in District of Columbia.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Public Citizen Foundation Inc's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2020-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 18 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 2 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.
Address of record on the latest return: 1600 20TH Street Nw, Washington, DC, 20009.
EIN 52-1263996 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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