Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley

The Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley is a non-partisan, interdisciplinary research institute founded circa 1920 that produces policy research, the Berkeley IGS Poll, a 400,000+ volume library, and the LoCALDig digitization project for students, California policymakers, and the public.

Company typePrivate
Founded1920
HeadquartersBerkeley, United States
Headcount11–50
GTM typeB2B
OfferingServices

What Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley does

The Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) is a non-partisan, interdisciplinary research institute at the University of California, Berkeley, founded circa 1920 to provide research expertise to the California State Legislature. It focuses on American and California governance, politics, and public policy, convening faculty and students from political science, sociology, public policy, law, and history. IGS serves UC Berkeley students and faculty, California state and local policymakers, media, and the broader public; it is governed by the UC Board of Regents and operates free of charge to all users.

IGS's core offerings are organized as a platform of interconnected research centers and programs. The Berkeley IGS Poll is a recognized non-partisan survey of California registered voters on politics, public policy, and public affairs, conducted via Qualtrics. The IGS Library holds more than 400,000 volumes in public administration, public affairs, and public policy and serves as a depository for California local government documents. The LoCALDig Project, launched in summer 2024 in collaboration with the California State Library, UCLA Young Research Library, and Internet Archive, is a multi-year digitization initiative that reached one million pages in March 2026. Additional units include the Robert T. Matsui Center for Politics & Public Service (student programs, internships, fellowships), the Center for Community Innovation (housing and urban sustainability), the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative (BIMI), the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management (CCRM), and the Urban Displacement Project. Supporting channels include research seminars, the Barbara Boxer Lecture Series, the Matsui Lectureship, IGS Mini-Podcasts, newsletters, and California Ballot Proposition Guides.

IGS does not operate a commercial revenue model. It is funded through UC Berkeley institutional allocations, competitive grants, and donations, and all research outputs, polls, and library resources are provided free of charge. Its distribution is essentially direct to its campus and California policy community, with no paid customer relationships, licensing, or productized sales.

Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley firmographics

Firmographics

Name: Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley
Legal name: Institute of Governmental Studies, University of California, Berkeley
Website: https://igs.berkeley.edu
Company type: Private
Founded year: 1920
Operating status: Operating
Headcount range: 11–50 employees
Short description: The Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley is a non-partisan, interdisciplinary research institute founded circa 1920 that produces policy research, the Berkeley IGS Poll, a 400,000+ volume library, and the LoCALDig digitization project for students, California policymakers, and the public.
Ownership category
akta.pro rank

Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley industry classification

Industry

Product category: Public Policy Research
NAICS: Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720), Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910)
SIC: Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)
akta.pro primary industry: Survey, Panel & Fieldwork Services (BPAHALAJ)

Keywords

Public policy research
Political science research
Public opinion polling
Government studies library
Civic engagement programs

Where Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley is headquartered

Location

Headquarters

HQ city: Berkeley
HQ country: United States
HQ region: North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley business model

Business model

GTM type: B2B
Offering type: Services
Cost components: Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels8 records

Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley product offering

Product offering

Core offering

IGS is a university research institute that conducts interdisciplinary research on American and California governance, politics, and public policy, and operates student programming, a major public affairs library, a non-partisan public opinion poll, and a multi-year digitization project for California local government documents. Its core deliverables are research publications, polling data, library collections, and experiential learning programs for UC Berkeley students.

Product overview

The Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley operates as an interdisciplinary research institute offering a portfolio of research products and programs. The core offerings include the Berkeley IGS Poll (a non-partisan California public opinion survey), the IGS Library (a major collection of 400,000+ volumes on public administration and policy), and the LoCALDig digitization project. These are complemented by the Robert T. Matsui Center for Politics & Public Service, the Center for Community Innovation, student programs including Democracy Camp and the Cal-in-Sacramento Fellowship, research seminars, the IGS Mini-Podcasts, and California Ballot Proposition Guides. The institute functions as a platform of interconnected research centers, programs, and educational initiatives rather than a single unified software product.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

Berkeley IGS Poll: Non-partisan survey of California public opinion on matters of politics, public policy and public affairs conducted by IGS at UC Berkeley
Robert T. Matsui Center for Politics & Public Service
LoCALDig Project
IGS Library

Products and services

Berkeley IGS Poll

Quantifiable outcome

The IGS Poll has been cited by major news outlets including The Hill, Berkeley News, KQED, and East Bay Express
+1 more outcomes

Companies that use Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley

Customer profile

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley technology and API

Technology

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API: No
API docs
API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley partnerships and signals

Strategic signal

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

California State LibrarycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024The California State Library partnered with IGS Library, UCLA Young Research Library, and Internet Archive on the LoCAL Dig Project to digitize California local government documents. State funding supports this multi-year digitization initiative.
UCLA Young Research LibrarycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024UCLA Young Research Library collaborates with IGS Library on the California Local Government Documents Digitization Project, representing California's contribution to this statewide digitization effort.
Internet ArchivecoreTechnology or IntegrationInternet Archive serves as the digitization partner and hosting platform for the California Local Government Documents Collection (LoCALDig), making digitized documents freely accessible to the public.
Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPPIC research affiliates are affiliated with IGS, and Paul King serves as the PPIC Coordinator for the IGS Library. The partnership facilitates research collaboration on California public policy issues.
Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative (BIMI)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIGS Library partnered with BIMI to display the Cultures in Community Mural, featuring images from student research on Sikh, Afghan, Ethiopian, and Yemen communities.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley competitors and assessment

Company assessment

Regional players

USC Sol Price School of Public Policy: USC's public policy school, conducting research on urban policy, governance, and California issues. Comparable in California-focused policy research and university affiliation, though structured as an academic school.
UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy: Berkeley's own public policy school, conducting research and training on governance and policy. Shares faculty and topical overlap with IGS but operates as a degree-granting school rather than an interdisciplinary institute.

Direct peers

Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC): California-focused, non-partisan public policy research organization. PPIC conducts surveys, policy analysis, and has affiliates at IGS, making it the closest peer in mission, geography, and research output type.
UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy: UCLA-affiliated public policy research hub focused on California governance and social science research. Closely comparable to IGS in university-based, California-focused policy research, and a collaboration partner on LoCALDig.
California State Library: State-level library and information agency that partners with IGS on LoCALDig. Comparable in its role preserving California public documents and supporting public access, and a direct collaborator on IGS's flagship digitization effort.

Broad incumbents

Pew Research Center: Non-partisan public opinion and demographic research organization. Directly comparable to IGS's polling mission via the Berkeley IGS Poll, but operates nationally with substantially larger resources and survey infrastructure.
Hoover Institution: Stanford-based public policy research center with a national and international profile. Overlaps with IGS in academic-policy research and in operating within a major California research university, but with significantly larger scale and broader scope.
Brookings Institution: Major Washington, D.C.-based think tank producing non-partisan policy research. Comparable in producing publicly available, non-partisan research on politics and policy, though at a national scale and with broader topic breadth.
RAND Corporation: Large, established policy research organization with deep California roots (Santa Monica HQ). Comparable as a research-driven policy organization but operates at vastly larger scale and with a national security / defense emphasis.

Others

Internet Archive: Non-profit digital library hosting digitized public records. Comparable through its role as the hosting platform for LoCALDig and its broader mission of preserving public-interest digital content for free access.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley financial estimates

Financial estimate

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley leadership team

Management profile

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley subsidiaries and ownership

Company hierarchy

Subsidiaries6 records

Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley funding detail

Funding detail

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley M&A and investment

M&A and investment

M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley

What does Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley do?

Is Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley a public or private company?

Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley is a private company. It is classified as state government owned and is currently operating.

When was Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley founded?

Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley was founded in 1920. It employs 11 to 50 people.

Where is Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley based?

Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley is headquartered in Berkeley, United States, in the North America region.

Who are Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley's main competitors?

Regional players on record are USC Sol Price School of Public Policy and UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy. Direct peers are Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy and California State Library. Broad incumbents are Pew Research Center, Hoover Institution, Brookings Institution and RAND Corporation. Internet Archive is listed as an others.

Does Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley have an API?

No public API is recorded for Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley.

What industry is Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley in?

Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley's product category is Public Policy Research. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAHALAJ, Survey, Panel & Fieldwork Services. Its NAICS code is 541720 and its SIC code is 8700.