Institute for Family Studies

What Institute for Family Studies does

The Institute for Family Studies (IFS) is a privately held, independent nonprofit research organization founded in 2013 and headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia (P.O. Box 1502). It operates with a small staff of 1-10 employees and publishes empirical research on marriage, fertility, parenting, family structure, and the social effects of digital technology. Its core products include the IFS Blog (article and analysis publishing), IFS Insights (a data-visualization platform), formal Reports and Briefs (such as the annual State of Fertility Report and State of Our Unions), and a podcast. The organization runs and co-brands original survey research — including a 24,000-parent parenting survey with Jonathan Haidt's Anxious Generation Project and a 2,431-adult AI-companion study with the Wheatley Institute — and disseminates findings through major media coverage in outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, EWTN News, and City Journal.

IFS is organized around three thematic initiatives — the Pronatalism Initiative (led by Lyman Stone), the Get Married Initiative (led by Brad Wilcox), and the Family First Technology Initiative (led by Michael Toscano and Daniel Cochrane) — which translate published research into targeted policy proposals. Senior fellows are drawn from credentialed academic backgrounds, including a former Pew Research Center senior researcher (Wendy Wang) and BYU/Wheatley Institute scholars (Jason S. Carroll, Alan J. Hawkins, Brian J. Willoughby).

The business model is donation-funded and content-first: all research, reports, and educational content are distributed free via the IFS website and partner channels, with revenue sourced through the donate.ifstudies.org portal. The organization has no disclosed pricing, paid subscriptions, or commercial products. IFS filed a Supreme Court amicus brief in support of the Texas App Store Safety Law, marking entry into direct regulatory advocacy alongside its research function. Geographic focus is the United States, with emerging cross-border engagement through the Canadian Gen(Z)AI Youth Assembly research linkage.

Name

Institute for Family Studies

Legal name

Institute for Family Studies

Website

https://ifstudies.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Institute for Family Studies is a Charlottesville-based nonprofit research organization that publishes empirical research and policy analysis on marriage, fertility, parenting, and family trends for the general public, policymakers, academics, and journalists.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Charlottesville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Institute for Family Studies (IFS) is an independent nonprofit research organization that produces and publishes empirical research, data-driven analysis, and policy commentary on family formation, marriage, fertility, parenting, and related social trends. It distributes its research free of charge through a website blog, data-visualization platform (IFS Insights), formal reports and briefs, and podcasts, funded primarily through charitable donations.

Product overview

The Institute for Family Studies operates as a research and publishing organization offering a portfolio of content products including the IFS Blog for articles and analysis, IFS Insights for data visualizations, and formal Reports and Briefs. The organization also produces podcasts and manages three focused initiatives (Pronatalism Initiative, Get Married Initiative, and Family First Technology Initiative) that extend its research into specific policy and cultural areas. IFS does not operate as a technology platform but rather as a content-first organization that disseminates family research through its website and media partnerships.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Pronatalism Initiative: An initiative focused on addressing and promoting policies related to increasing birth rates and fertility.
• Get Married Initiative
• Family First Technology Initiative
• The Success Sequence

Products and services

• IFS Blog The Institute for Family Studies' primary content platform featuring articles, research commentary, and analysis on topics including marriage, fertility, parenting, and family policy.
• IFS Insights A data visualization and research findings platform presenting statistics on family trends, happiness, fertility, and relationship quality through interactive charts and infographics.
• IFS Reports and Briefs Formal research publications including the annual State of Fertility Report (e.g., The Demographic Dead End: 2026 State of Fertility Report) and topic-specific research briefs on marriage, family formation, and demographic trends.
• IFS Insights Podcast Audio content featuring interviews, discussions, and commentary on family research topics, hosted by IFS researchers and featured media personalities, distributed via Apple Podcasts and other platforms.

Quantifiable outcome

• Research shows 15% of young adults in relationships maintain secret romantic interactions with AI chatbots; 46% lower likelihood of stable relationships among AI companion users
• +2 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Center for Christian VirtuecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Partnership to produce the 2026 Family Structure Index ranking U.S. states by marriage rates, family stability, and fertility rates. States were evaluated on metrics including child poverty rates, educational outcomes, and economic strength.
• Wheatley Institute (Brigham Young University)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025IFS collaborates with Wheatley Institute on research including studies on AI romantic companions (surveying 2,431 U.S. adults), monogamy and polyamory attitudes among young adults, and the 2026 State of Our Unions report. Researchers including Alan J. Hawkins, Brian J. Willoughby, Jason S. Carroll, and Brad Wilcox hold dual affiliations.
• Anxious Generation Project (Jonathan Haidt)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025IFS conducted a landmark survey of 24,000 parents in collaboration with Jonathan Haidt's Anxious Generation Project, examining parenting practices, screen time, and child development trends.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Child Trends: Child Trends is a nonprofit research organization producing empirical research on children, families, and fertility. It is comparable to IFS in delivering data-driven, family-focused research used by policymakers, media, and practitioners.
• Pew Research Center: Pew Research Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan empirical research organization producing nationally cited reports on demographics, family, and social trends. It is the closest comparable in mission, scale, and output style to IFS, and IFS Director of Research Wendy Wang is a Pew alumna.
• The Witherspoon Institute: The Witherspoon Institute is a nonprofit think tank producing research on marriage, family, bioethics, and religious liberty. It is a direct peer to IFS in scope (family/ethics research), scale (small dedicated research staff), and output model (reports and policy briefs to inform public debate).
• Cardus: Cardus is an independent, faith-based think tank producing empirical research on families, communities, and civil society in North America. It is comparable to IFS in scale, faith-informed social science orientation, and family/community focus.
• National Marriage Project (University of Virginia): The National Marriage Project at UVA is a nonprofit research initiative focused on the health and status of marriage in America, producing the State of Our Unions report. Its director Brad Wilcox moved into a senior fellowship role at IFS, making the two organizations direct collaborators and peers in marriage/family research.
• Family Research Council: Family Research Council is a nonprofit research and advocacy organization focused on family policy, marriage, and faith-based family issues. It overlaps with IFS in topical focus on family/marriage and in advocacy-adjacent research positioning.
• Population Reference Bureau: PRB is a nonprofit research organization that informs public debate on population, health, and family demography. It is comparable to IFS in producing applied demographic analysis on U.S. fertility, marriage, and family structure for policy and media audiences.

Broad incumbents

• American Enterprise Institute: AEI is a large, established Washington think tank producing research across economics, society, and culture, with overlapping coverage on family, marriage, and demographics. It operates at a vastly larger scale than IFS and offers broader policy portfolio coverage.
• Brookings Institution: Brookings is one of the oldest and largest U.S. think tanks, producing research across economics, social policy, and demographics. Its work on family and demographic trends is comparable in depth to IFS, but at a dramatically greater scale and institutional breadth.
• The Heritage Foundation: Heritage Foundation is one of the largest U.S. conservative think tanks, producing research and policy advocacy across a broad portfolio that includes family, marriage, and demographic issues. It shares topical overlap and ideological alignment with IFS, but at a much larger scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCZ8argar8KWCmELFn4yL3XQA
• Xx.com/FamStudies
• Facebookfacebook.com/familystudies
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-institute-for-family-studies

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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