The activities of the Institute for Public Affairs are financed through foreign and domestic public and private sources. A significant portion of the budget is provided by private foundations both in the form of operational grants , that are intended to cover the administrative costs of the organization, and project grants to be used to finance specific research and publication activities.

The strategic operational-grant donors of the Institute for Public Affairs are the Open Society Institute (since 1997), and the Ford Foundation (since 2000). In 2002, these institutions were joined by the Ekopolis Foundation and Centrum pre Filantropiu ETP-S [Center for Philanthropy ETP- S]. Within the program “Your Earth”, the latter institutions have granted IVO financial resources from the Trust for Civil Society for Central and Eastern Europe .

The strategic project-grant donor of the Institute is the German Marshall Fund of the United States supporting projects that focus on transatlantic cooperation.

Sasakawa Peace Foundation is also a key project donor. Throughout the period 2001-2003 this foundation has supported the publication project of “The Global Report on the State of Society ”. The National Endowment for Democracy supported the same project in the years 2000 and 2003. Other important donors include a consortium comprising the John Hus Foundation, the Open Society Foundation, Slovakia, and the Foundation for the Children of Slovakia . This consortium has supported a research project on civil society in Slovakia . Among traditional donors are the International Visegrad Fund ( providing grants to support projects focusing on Visegrad cooperation), as well as Freedom House, and International Republican Institute. Since IVO’s founding in 1997, the following institutions and organizations have provided financial support: The Embassy of Sweden, The Embassy of the United States, The Embassy of the Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, The Embassy of Holland, The Embassy of Norway, Foundation for the Support of Civic Activities [NPOA], Charles S. Mott Foundation, UNDP, the World Bank, and Bertelsmann Foundation.

Slovenská sporiteľňa became one of the first business partners of the Institute in 2003, and was joined by Hewlett Packard Slovakia, Philip Morris Slovakia, U. S. Steel Košice and Západoslovenská energetika in 2004.

Other resources in support of Institute’s programs and activities come via projects supported by domestic and foreign state and academic institutions, as well as from the sale of IVO publications.