Democracy 21
Overview
Mission
Renew & reform our political system & government.
What it reported doing in 2024
Advocacy of democracy reforms, including campaign finance, voting rights, and redistricting reforms, advocacy of accountability for those who seek to undermine the integrity of elections, and advocacy of the rule of law, fair and free elections, and a political system free from undue influence by monied interests.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 521948022
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2024–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2023
- Headquarters
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2023559600
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 86
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 72
- Sustainability: 13
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 91.5%; rating input score 91
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 60%; rating input score 60; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -22.8%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.23; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.96; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 17.9%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: 16.4% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 22.3% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 91.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 5 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $484K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $128K · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- FRED WERTHEIMER (PRESIDENT & CEO): $128,249 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2024.