The IFS is non-profit and non-political and receives funding from a range of sources, including the Economic and Social Research Council, UK Government departments, foundations, the European Research Council, international organisations, companies and other non-profit organisations. Funding is received either for specific research projects or via our two ESRC research centres, the Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy and the Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice. Research Councils award funding for academic research independently of government; funding is awarded on the basis of scientific excellence, through a process of peer-review. The IFS never accepts funding for a research project - or indeed funding of any kind - that relies on a specific result being found or that compromises our independence and neutrality. All of our own publications are available free of charge for the public to read.
IFS receives the highest ratings for transparency in information made public about funding, from Who Funds You? (rated A - last rating in 2019) and Transparify (rated 5 stars - last rating in 2018). More details about these ratings can be found on the Who Funds You? website.
The majority of IFS income goes directly to specific research projects. Below is a list showing income from individual funders for projects current in 2017. See the spreadsheet below for details of individual projects and notes about funders.
Funder |
2017 grant income (£) |
3ie |
115,366 |
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation |
54,545 |
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation |
255,350 |
British Academy |
307,534 |
Children's Commissioner |
3,721 |
Children's Investment Fund Foundation |
192,024 |
Cowles Foundation |
5,554 |
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills |
3,083 |
Department for Education |
21,761 |
Department for International Development |
644,411 |
Department for Work and Pensions |
25,002 |
Department of Health |
255,985 |
Economic and Social Research Council |
3,356,947 |
Education Endowment Foundation |
59,059 |
European Research Council |
735,663 |
Evidence Action |
25,017 |
Gatsby Charitable Foundation |
11,468 |
Global Innovation Fund |
322,939 |
ICAEW |
110,000 |
IFS Local Government Finance Consortium |
13,700 |
IFS Retirement Savings Consortium |
11,061 |
Jacobs Foundation |
170,904 |
Joseph Rowntree Foundation |
285,272 |
Laura and John Arnold Foundation |
35,355 |
Leverhulme Trust |
50,829 |
London School of Economics and Political Science |
5,000 |
Medical Research Council |
3,520 |
Michigan Retirement Research Center |
71,620 |
National Foundation for Educational Research |
24,318 |
National Infrastructure Commission |
76,640 |
National Institute on Ageing |
29,821 |
National Institutes of Health |
87,634 |
Nuffield Foundation |
322,415 |
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development |
9,359 |
Others |
41,631 |
Princeton University |
5,554 |
Private Enterprise Development in Low-Income Count |
56,018 |
Research Councils UK |
42,530 |
Rockwool Foundation Research Unit |
101,158 |
Social Mobility Foundation |
6,348 |
The Health Foundation |
102,349 |
Universities UK |
15,750 |
University of South California |
5,554 |
WaterAid |
62,393 |
World Bank |
218,124 |
The Institute also generates a small contribution to its overall costs from its members (1.4%) including corporate members (1%), publication of the Institute’s quarterly journal, Fiscal Studies (0.6%), and its events programme (1.3%).
We are grateful to all of our members for helping to support the work that we do. Please note that none of our publications necessarily reflect the views of any of the below members.
£1,000 - £10,000
Bank of England
Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT)
City of London Corporation
Confederation of British Industry
Deloitte LLP
Elliot Advisors (UK) Ltd
Equity Release Council
Frontier Economics
Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher
HM Revenue and Customs
HM Treasury
HSBC Holdings Plc
ICAEW
KPMG
Lane Clark & Peacock
Mercer
National Audit Office
Pension and Lifetime Savings Association
PwC
RELX Group
Royal London
Shell
Standard Life
Universities UK
Wellington Management International Ltd
Zurich Financial Services
>£100 - £1,000
Treasury Comittee
House of Commons Library
Houses of the Oireachtas Service
John Swire & Sons Ltd