The Urban Institute is funded primarily by foundations, corporate philanthropies, and public agencies at all government levels through both grants and contracts. We also receive support from nonprofits, universities, and individuals. Much of our funding is awarded per project or program. A portion of earnings from our endowment also supports a small part of our annual budget, allowing Urban to deepen our research and data science capacity, strengthen organizational productivity, seed new initiatives, and deliver fact-based insights, tools, and data to the hands of changemakers who are best placed to act.
Funding Principles
We are grateful for the generous support of numerous funders who make it possible for us to advance our mission. At all times, Urban Institute experts strive to be collaborative and operate with independence, integrity, equity, and inclusivity. These values and the following principles guide Urban experts’ engagements with our funders and reflect the standards we aim to uphold.
Consistency with mission
The pursuit of essential support should not divert Urban from our mission. Urban solicits and accepts funding only for activities that are consistent with our mission.
Public understanding and knowledge stewardship
Urban seeks to ensure that the knowledge generated through our work contributes to the well-being of people and communities. We therefore strive to widely share the findings, insights, evidence, and promising solutions identified through our research and expertise. While some projects are designed for specific partners and result in limited public dissemination, we work to translate their insights, methods, and lessons into broader understanding that can inform policy, practice, and future research. We believe responsible stewardship of evidence strengthens decision-making and advances our mission.
Independence from funders
No funder shall determine research findings or the insights and recommendations of our experts. Urban will not accept any support that implies or requires endorsement of a position or product. We welcome comment, correction, and substantive engagement from all informed parties to enhance the quality of our work, but the board and leadership of Urban will defend the independence of researchers and experts even if funders disagree with their findings or conclusions.
Intellectual property
Urban seeks to retain rights in intellectual property produced during and after the funding period. After a piece of funded work is complete, we strive to communicate the insights and conclusions of our research through other formats including essays, interactive features, data visualizations, or Urban Wire articles (subject to reasonable constraints such as to protect individual privacy or proprietary information). We provide funders with reproduction and distribution rights for research reports they have funded when we own the intellectual property.
Expectation of researchers
As an organization, Urban does not take positions on issues. However, researchers have autonomy to pursue new ideas, and they are empowered and supported to share their own evidence-based views and policy recommendations that have been shaped by their research and analysis. Urban researchers are expected to be objective and follow the evidence wherever it may lead.
Diversity of perspective
Urban strives to build teams with a diversity of perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences. We view this across many dimensions, including the range of academic disciplines and issue areas represented on teams, the variety of research and analytic methods used, the breadth of modes of inquiry followed, and the unique experiences and perspectives that each person brings. We are also comfortable when different Urban experts who are examining the same or related questions reach different conclusions, provided they are transparent about their methods and the work meets our standards of quality. We believe this not only spurs innovation, it is also critical to the relevance and excellence of the data and evidence Urban produces.
Disclosure of funding sources
Urban strives for transparency of our funding. Urban will consider granting anonymity to funders, subject to evaluation of the rationale and the best interests of Urban and the funder with regard to transparency, reputational risk, and the limits of the law. A grant of anonymity does not exempt donors or awards from review to ensure consistency with our principles. Where products or events are made possible by a particular funder, we seek to disclose the funding relationship in connection with that program, product or event along with standard language affirming our research independence. Each year, Urban publicly acknowledges all contributions that support our research. We list funders in categories based on the amount of funding received for each year. Urban’s annual reports are available online. Details on federal grants and contracts are also available on USASpending.gov.
Freedom to decline support
At our leadership’s discretion, Urban can at any time and for any reason reject or return support from a funder.
Protection of the Urban brand and reputation
Urban will guard the appropriate use of our name, logo, and reputation and ask that outside parties not use Urban’s brand or visual identity without advance permission for each specific use.
Funding
Urban is funded by grants and contracts from foundations, government at all levels, corporations, universities, other nonprofits, and individuals. With this funding, we conduct research, evaluate programs, and offer technical assistance. We also are fortunate to receive charitable contributions from individuals who support our mission with flexible funding and with contributions toward work on specific issues.
The Urban Institute strives to meet the highest standards of integrity and quality in its research and analyses and in the evidence-based policy recommendations offered by its researchers and experts. We believe that operating consistent with the values of independence, rigor, and transparency is essential to maintaining those standards.
As an organization, the Urban Institute does not take positions on issues, but it does empower and support its experts in sharing their own evidence-based views and policy recommendations that have been shaped by scholarship. Funders do not determine our research findings or the insights and recommendations of our experts. Urban scholars and experts are expected to be objective and follow the evidence wherever it may lead. Learn more about our funding principles.
Audited Financial Statements
These financial statements are presented for convenience and informational purposes only. Although reasonable efforts are made to ensure the integrity of our online information, they should not be relied on. A copy of the printed financial statements will be provided on request.
IRS Form 990
Researcher Principles
Urban Institute employees operate with independence, rigor, and transparency. We believe this is critical to achieving the highest standards of integrity and quality in research, analyses, and evidence-based policy solutions.
Building and sharing knowledge in the real world
Urban’s experts come from all sectors—academic, public, private, and philanthropic—and they share insights, learn from, and serve as resources for practitioners, policymakers, and business and community leaders working to make change in our society. Their perspectives are informed and enhanced both by real-world experience and by others who are putting policy into practice.
Knowledge-building enriched by diverse affiliations
Urban experts are permitted and empowered to work and affiliate with outside organizations, whether serving on boards, volunteering their time, or providing advice and counsel. And Urban welcomes visiting scholars and nonresident or affiliated fellows who work for other organizations. These outside affiliations enrich our perspectives and our learning environment. We also require all paid and unpaid experts to disclose their affiliations to Urban leadership and follow rules governing their engagement to ensure transparency for audiences and independence of experts.
Avoiding conflicts of interest
Researchers may engage in outside activities as long as they do not conflict with Urban’s mission and interests. Outside activities are not allowed when they violate the law, prevent an employee from doing their job or following Urban policies, compete with work performed by Urban, or allow a researcher personal financial gain from work they are performing for Urban.
Disclosing experts’ affiliations to our audiences
We require our experts to disclose their affiliations publicly in their bios on Urban’s website. When those affiliations are particularly relevant to a subject of study, they are noted in publications, too. In some cases, Urban’s senior leadership may decide that based on an outside affiliation, an expert must be recused from a project altogether.
Writing or speaking on Urban’s behalf
Urban researchers must identify themselves as such when they write or speak about work they have published or are engaging in at Urban and take care to ground their insights in data and evidence. If researchers are writing or speaking about work they have performed for another organization, they must identify that organization and be explicit that they are not representing Urban.
Sharing knowledge without engaging in political activity
Under no circumstances can Urban resources be used for political activity. When lawmakers or candidates ask for advice, Urban experts may respond to those requests as long as they would provide the same evidence-based insights to any other lawmaker or candidate in a nonexclusive manner. Urban does not restrict personal political activities researchers engage in on their own time; such activities are considered private.
View the Urban Institute Financial Conflict of Interest policy (PDF).
If you have any questions about this policy, please e-mail [email protected]
Bringing Rigor and Independence to the Policy Discussion
As a 501(c)(3) research organization, the Urban Institute exists to build knowledge for policymakers, practitioners, the media, advocates—changemakers of all kinds. Amid the heightened policy awareness of campaigns, we take extra care to ensure we remain a trusted source for reliable analysis while complying with election and lobbying rules and honoring our commitment to independence.
We know these conditions require clear guidelines for what Urban will (and won’t, or can’t) do in the context of an election. In the interest of transparency and accountability, we’re sharing our guidelines so everyone knows our practices for all work pertaining to elections.
1. Provide transparency and consistency.
When Urban publishes an analysis, we are willing to share details on methodology, assumptions, evaluation criteria, and data sources with anyone who asks. Candidates and policymakers are free to correct or clarify our assumptions. And per our policies on errors and corrections, we will always correct the record if we discover an error.
2. Acknowledge that we can’t answer every question.
We choose which questions and proposals to analyze based not on whether researchers agree or disagree, but on whether they contain novel or important ideas, whether they are sufficiently detailed, whether we have the capacity to analyze them rigorously, and whether they present opportunities to significantly elevate or clarify public understanding.
3. Live up to our high quality standards.
To produce relevant campaign analyses, our researchers must act quickly. But that is no reason for their work to fall short of Urban standards. We take the time to check and double-check our analyses and our explanations.
4. Provide nonexclusive counsel.
Urban experts regularly receive calls from campaign staff and advisors asking for evidence-based insight as they design policy proposals. When contacted, Urban staff explicitly say that they will provide the same answers and advice to any other campaigns if asked.
Urban staff members should never be identified as “campaign advisors” when using their Urban affiliation, and Urban analyses should never be mistaken for endorsement. In addition, if Urban experts have provided advice to campaigns, they disclose this information when publishing related analyses.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to our government affairs team or, for members of the media, our media team if you have questions or want to know more about Urban’s guidelines and policies for elections.
