Invisible Institute

What Invisible Institute does

Invisible Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit journalism production company founded in 2015 and headquartered on the South Side of Chicago (6100 S Blackstone Ave), with a staff of 11-50. Its work centers on enhancing citizens' capacity to hold public institutions accountable through investigative reporting, multimedia storytelling, human rights documentation, and the curation of public information. The organization's core products are web-based public data platforms and journalism archives: the Civic Police Data Project (cpdp.co), launched in 2015, which makes hundreds of thousands of Chicago Police complaints, uses of force, and lawsuits accessible and is used by 89,000+ Chicagoans annually; the National Police Index, launched in September 2024 across 17 states to track wandering officers; the Chicago Police Torture Archive documenting 100+ cases from the Jon Burge era; and award-winning podcasts including the Pulitzer Prize-winning You Didn't See Nothin. Its AI/ML work, called Beneath the Surface, applies community-driven machine learning to surface patterns of misconduct in police complaint files.

The business model is donor- and grant-funded: Invisible Institute relies on one-time and recurring donations, stock gifts, planned giving, and foundation grants (e.g., Field Foundation), and provides all investigative reporting and data tools free of charge to the public. Distribution is multi-channel: direct publishing on the website, co-published investigations with partners including ProPublica, Block Club Chicago, South Side Weekly, City Bureau, The Marshall Project, IndyStar, and MindSite News, podcast distribution on major platforms, and a monthly View from the Ground newsletter. The organization has no public-facing API, and the primary go-to-market motion is community-led accountability journalism. Key customer/audience segments are general Chicago residents, legal professionals and public defenders, journalists, educators and students (CPS eighth- and tenth-graders learn from the torture archive per 2015 reparations legislation), and policymakers and advocates.

Strategically, the organization pursues a litigation-driven data acquisition strategy (e.g., Kalven v. Chicago, Wisconsin FOIA suit) to expand its proprietary datasets, and has built a 25+ year community documentation practice anchored by founder Jamie Kalven and current Executive Director Andrew Fan. In 2024, it won two Pulitzer Prizes and a Peabody Award, and 2025-2026 reporting expanded into federal agent accountability, forced hospitalization, and First Amendment defense.

Name

Invisible Institute

Legal name

Invisible Institute

Website

https://invisible.institute

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Invisible Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit journalism production company on Chicago's South Side that uses investigative reporting, public data tools (Civic Police Data Project, National Police Index), and human rights documentation to help citizens hold public institutions, particularly law enforcement, accountable.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nonprofit Investigative Journalism

NAICS

Human Rights Organizations (813311), Social Advocacy Organizations (8133)

SIC

Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Transparency Portals & Open Data Reporting (EDADAIAN)

akta.pro secondary industries

Human Rights Monitoring, Documentation & Advocacy (BPADAGAK), Digital Rights, Privacy & Free Expression Advocacy (BPAGAFAL)

Keywords

• Investigative journalism
• Police accountability reporting
• Public data platforms
• Human rights documentation
• Multimedia storytelling

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: The organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that relies on public donations. They accept one-time and recurring contributions, stock donations, and planned gifts through wills and estate planning.
2. Grant Funding: The organization receives grant funding from foundations and institutional donors. They have mentioned Field Foundation grants and individual donor contributions.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Invisible Institute is a nonprofit journalism production company that produces investigative reporting, multimedia storytelling, and human rights documentation, and curates public information through web-based data platforms. Its core offerings are the Civic Police Data Project (cpdp.co) and National Police Index — searchable public databases of Chicago and multi-state police misconduct, use-of-force, and employment records — together with award-winning investigative series and podcasts (e.g., "You Didn't See Nothin," "Missing in Chicago," "Mauled"). The Chicago Police Torture Archive and the "Beneath the Surface" community-machine-learning project extend its work into historical documentation and data-driven accountability research.

Product overview

The Invisible Institute is a nonprofit journalism production company offering investigative reporting, multimedia storytelling, human rights documentation, and public data tools. The core products include the Civic Police Data Project (CPDP.co) and National Police Index, which are public databases making police misconduct records and employment history accessible. These data platforms are complemented by the Chicago Police Torture Archive, a human rights documentation archive, and audio storytelling productions including the Pulitzer Prize-winning You Didn't See Nothin podcast. The Beneath the Surface project applies machine learning to identify patterns in police complaint data. The portfolio also includes the Missing in Chicago investigative series, View from the Ground newsletter/archive, and various investigative reports on police accountability issues. The organization operates primarily as a web-based platform with no API access.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Civic Police Data Project (CPDP): Public database making Chicago Police complaints accessible to the public, launched in 2015
• Chicago Police Torture Archive
• National Police Index
• Illinois Police Data
• View from the Ground
• You Didn't See Nothin
• Missing in Chicago
• Beneath the Surface

Products and services

• Civic Police Data Project (CPDP.co)

Quantifiable outcome

• 212+ convictions overturned linked to Ronald Watts investigation
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability6 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

18 partnerships are on record, tiered core and secondary.

• Pozen Center for Human Rights at University of ChicagocoreOthers · 1 January 2017In 2017, the Pozen Center donated files from the People's Law Office to Invisible Institute to digitize and curate the legal archive documenting Jon Burge police torture cases, making it accessible to the public.
• Block Club ChicagocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partnership for multi-newsroom investigations. Co-produced the investigation into federal agents' use of chemical weapons in Chicago with five other outlets contributing to reporting and nine helping collect tips through a shared tipline.
• South Side WeeklycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOngoing collaboration including forced hospitalization investigation, federal agents coverage, and ICE raid reporting. South Side Weekly provides print distribution and is described as a long-time partner.
• ProPublicacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOngoing partnership for investigative series. Produced investigations into Chicago police sexual misconduct and promotions, co-publishing with Chicago Sun-Times.
• Cicero IndependientesecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in collaborative investigation of federal agents' use of chemical weapons in Chicago.
• Race & Equity ProjectsecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in collaborative investigation of federal agents' use of chemical weapons in Chicago.
• The TriibesecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in collaborative investigation of federal agents' use of chemical weapons in Chicago.
• The Marshall ProjectcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-produced the 'Mauled: When Police Dogs Are Weapons' series which won the Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting in 2021 and led to policy changes.
• IndyStarcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-produced the 'Mauled: When Police Dogs Are Weapons' series which won the Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting in 2021.
• AL.comsecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-produced the 'Mauled: When Police Dogs Are Weapons' series.
• MindSite NewscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTwo-year collaborative investigation into Chicago Police's forced hospitalization practices, published as special issue in South Side Weekly with package of stories by Medill Investigative Lab-Chicago student journalists.
• Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG)coreTechnology or IntegrationTechnical partner in developing the National Police Index database, providing data science expertise for tracking police officer employment history across states.
• Innocence & Justice LouisianacoreTechnology or IntegrationPartner in developing the National Police Index database for tracking wandering officers who move between departments after misconduct.
• City BureaucoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with City Bureau journalists trina reynolds-tyler and Sarah Conway for the 'Missing in Chicago' series that won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting in 2024.
• The Badger ProjectsecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-plaintiff in lawsuit against Wisconsin Department of Justice seeking to overturn denial of police certification and employment data access.
• National Museum of Public HousingsecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to host discussion on 25th anniversary of Plan for Transformation and exhibition of View from the Ground photographs.
• Black ArchivessecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to share View from the Ground photos and stories with their audience of Black archival photography enthusiasts.
• USG AudiocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAudio production partner for 'You Didn't See Nothin' podcast, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Audio Reporting and a Peabody Award.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• The Marshall Project: A nonprofit newsroom focused on criminal justice and policing. Co-produced 'Mauled: When Police Dogs Are Weapons' with Invisible Institute, a Pulitzer-winning investigation. Overlapping mission of exposing police misconduct and the justice system makes it a tight functional peer.
• The Appeal: Nonprofit newsroom covering criminal justice, policing, and the courts. Overlaps with Invisible Institute on accountability journalism about law enforcement misconduct and policy.
• Wisconsin Watch: Statewide nonprofit investigative newsroom and listed Invisible Institute partner (via the joint Wisconsin DOJ lawsuit). Highly comparable in donor-funded nonprofit accountability reporting model.
• Block Club Chicago: Chicago nonprofit newsroom covering local accountability issues and a listed co-investigative partner of Invisible Institute on multiple investigations. Similar nonprofit funding model and Chicago-specific audience focus.
• ProPublica: The largest U.S.-based nonprofit investigative journalism organization; explicitly a co-publishing partner of Invisible Institute on the Chicago police sexual misconduct and promotion investigations. Both rely on donations/grants and produce award-winning accountability journalism using data-driven methods.
• MuckRock: Nonprofit investigative newsroom and FOIA request platform. Highly comparable in its public-records-driven methodology, FOIA litigation, and curated document delivery model used to feed accountability reporting.
• City Bureau: Chicago-based civic journalism nonprofit and explicit Invisible Institute partner; the 'Missing in Chicago' Pulitzer for Local Reporting was awarded to its reporters in partnership with the Institute. Comparable documenter-style, community-rooted, accountability-focused nonprofit model.
• Type Investigations: Nonprofit investigative newsroom specializing in deep, long-form accountability journalism on topics including criminal justice. Similar Pulitzer-grade investigative scope and nonprofit funding model to Invisible Institute.
• The Center for Public Integrity: Long-standing nonprofit investigative newsroom focused on government and institutional accountability. Comparable donor-funded business model and award-winning investigative output across national beats.

Broad incumbents

• Mother Jones: Established nonprofit investigative magazine with broader editorial scope; analogous donor-funded model and Pulitzer-credentialled accountability reporting, but operates at significantly larger scale across a wider range of topics than Invisible Institute.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/invisible.institute
• Xx.com/invinst
• Facebookfacebook.com/invinst
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/invisible-institute

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Invisible Institute