COMMON SENSE INSTITUTE

Tax status: 501(c)(3) public charity, recognized by the IRS in 2011.

EIN: 27-4253618.

FY2024 Form 990: $4,013,468 total revenue, $4,000,269 total expenses, $897,351 total assets.

How Helpfund reads this organization

Public Activity — Moderate

Published Content & Communications — Moderate Website content was successfully cataloged (mission, programs, links). 1 published report or financial disclosure linked from the site. Maintains a news or blog section, but it publishes no feed we could read — so we cannot confirm how recently it posted. No published posts in the last year.

Operating History & Continuity — Strong Granted tax-exempt status in 2011 — 15 years of operating history. Unbroken filing record across 3 years.

Web & Social Presence — Limited Website is reachable. No official social accounts found on this organization's website. No own posts in the last 30 days. No platform activity in the last year.

Regulatory & Legal Compliance — Strong Most recent 990 covers tax year 2024 — current. Latest filing includes the full functional-expense breakdown. Reports a written conflict-of-interest policy. Reports a whistleblower policy. Reports a document-retention policy. Uses an independent process to set executive compensation. 100% of voting board members are independent. Listed in IRS Publication 78 as an organization eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.

Programs & Events — Limited 1 program service line described on the latest 990. Program descriptions are brief, with little detail given. Described programs account for 76% of reported expenses.

5 of 5 signals measured.

Sentiment — not yet scored

Independent Funder & Peer Validation — Strongly positive Received grants from 21 independent grantmakers, each recorded in that funder's own IRS filing rather than reported by this organization. 20 grantmakers funded it in the most recent filing years on record.

Media, Press & Legal, Social Chatter & Reach, Public Reviews & Community Voice: We have not collected this yet. That is a gap in our coverage, not a finding about this organization.

Third-Party Ratings & Watchdogs: The data exists but we are not licensed to publish it. This is a limit on us, not a finding about this organization.

1 of 5 signals measured.

Impact — not yet scored

Outcome Measurability & Disclosure — Minimal Publishes 2 outcome statements. Outcome statements are qualitative only, with no measurable figures given. Outcome statements carry no time period, so the results cannot be placed in time.

Cost-Effectiveness, Impact Scale & Growth: We can measure this and choose not to publish it.

Third-Party Impact Validation, Constituent-Verified Results: We have not collected this yet. That is a gap in our coverage, not a finding about this organization.

1 of 5 signals measured.

Where Helpfund has not gathered enough independent evidence to score a measure, the profile says so. An unscored measure never means the organization scored badly.

Programs

EDUCATION AND RESEARCH PROGRAM CONSISTS OF DEVELOPING INDEPENDENT REPORTS, INCLUDING DYNAMIC ECONOMETRIC FISCAL ANALYSIS, ON POLICIES, INITIATIVES, AND PROPOSED LAWS.

Leadership

KRISTIN STROHM, PRESIDENT & · CINAMON WATSON, COO · KATIE RATLIEF, AZ EXEC DIRE · KELLY CAUFIELD, CO EXEC DIRE · CHRISTOPHER BROWN, CO VP POLICY · GLENN FARLEY, DIR POLICY/R · JANDEL ALLEN-DAVIS, BOARD MEMBER · EARL L WRIGHT, BOARD CHAIRM

Reported on the organization's IRS Form 990, Part VII.

Funding received

Received grants from 21 independent grantmakers, totalling $2,743,976, each recorded in that funder's own IRS filing rather than reported by this organization.

COLORADO OPPORTUNITY FOUNDATION (2024)

MORGAN STANLEY GLOBAL IMPACT FUNDING TRUST INC (2024)

AMG CHARITABLE GIFT FOUNDATION (2024)

AMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION (2024)

BURTON FAMILY FOUNDATION (2024)

Funders of similar organizations

32 grantmakers have funded organizations in this sector, drawn from each funder's own IRS filing. Sign in to see them.

Source: IRS Form 990 filings and other public records, republished by Helpfund. Placement is never sold.