Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Think Tank Finances

What are the revenues and net assets of the larger, more popular think tanks?  I've compiled a list here, ordered by highest revenue to lowest revenue. The figures are the latest that are publicly available, and all are from 2009-2011.  Many of the figures have been rounded.

I've also listed how many employees (and volunteers, if any) each think tanks has, based on the most recently available public records.

  • Rand Corp.: Revenue = $261.9 million ($250.1 million = prior year revenue); $179.4 million net assets; 2051 employees; 11 volunteers
  • Heritage: Revenue= $78.2 million ($69.2 million); $164.8 million net assets; 530 employees; 231 volunteers
  • Aspen Institute: Revenue = $69 million ($66.5 million); 160.2 million net assets; 285 employees; 40 volunteers
  • Brookings: Revenue = $67 million ($75.2 million); $299.3 million net assets; 545 employees
  • Urban Institute: Revenue = $64.3 million ($62.7 million); $105 million net assets; 404 employees
  • CFR: Revenue =  $42.7 million ($28.7 million); $317.8 net assets; 317 employees
  • Cato: Revenue = $40.4 million ($31.5 million); $51.9 million net assets; 200 employees
  • CSIS: Revenue = $39.1 million ($29.3 million); $55.3 million net assets; 259 employees
  • CAP: Revenue = $36.7 million ($38.6 million); $36.6 million net assets; 325 employees
  • NBER: Revenue = $32.3 million ($25.7 million); $79.7 million net assets; 679 employees
  • GMF: Revenue = $23.5 million ($12.9 million); $185.8 million net assets; 84 employees
  • BPC: Revenue = $21.7 million ($24 million); $21.2 million net assets; 64 employees
  • CEIP: Revenue = $20.9 million ($16.5 million); $252.6 million net assets; 124 employees
  • Wilson Center: Revenue = $16.4 million ($9.5 million); $103.8 million net assets; 152 employees
  • NAF: Revenue = $15.8 million ($15.6 million); $15.8 million net assets; 144 employees; 44 volunteers
  • AEI: Revenue = $13.1 million ($52.5 million); $135.5 million net assets; 111 volunteers (I assume that that this means 111 employees, not volunteers)
  • Hudson: Revenue = $9.8 million ($12.4 million); $14.6 million net assets; 79 employees; 200 volunteers (Interesting how there were so many volunteers listed...)
  • PIIE: Revenue = $9.6 million ($13.8 million); $68.7 million net assets; 62 employees
  • ACUS: Revenue = $7.9 million ($6.5 million); $5.3 million net assets; 46 employees; 25 volunteers
  • Third Way: Revenue = $7.7 million ($8.3 million); $13.9 million net assets; 60 employees; 2 volunteers
  • EPI: Revenue = $6.5 million ($7.8 million); $5.8 million net assets; 59 employees
  • Stimson: Revenue = $6.1 million ($6.6 million); $1.9 million net assets; 56 employees; 58 volunteers
  • CNAS: Revenue = $4.3 million ($6.1 million); $1.4 million net assets; 63 employees; 15 volunteers
  • IPS: Revenue = $2.9 million ($3.6 million); $987,720 net assets; 46 employees; 56 volunteers
  • Lexington Institute: Revenue = $2.1 million ($2.4 million); $3.3 million net assets; 7 employees
  • CNP: Revenue = $2 million ($1.2 million); $1.5 million net assets; 11 employees