Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 030445391
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2024085565
- Rating
- 73
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Government and Public Administration
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $11,150,757
- Expenses
- $8,439,186
- Assets
- $13,408,716
- Liabilities
- $2,199,886
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
16 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- NOAH BOOKBINDER (PRESIDENT AND CEO)
- ARIELLE STOGNER (SR. V.PRESIDENT & CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER)
- JORDAN LIBOWITZ (VICE PRESIDENT FOR COMMUNICATIONS)
- DEBRA PERLIN (VICE PRESIDENT FOR POLICY)
Highest reported compensation
- NOAH BOOKBINDER (PRESIDENT AND CEO): $411,155 total reported compensation
- DONALD SHERMAN (EXEC. DIRECTOR & CHIEF COUNSEL.): $286,173 total reported compensation
- ADAM RAPPAPORT (GENERAL COUNSEL AND SENIOR ADVISOR): $265,027 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Crew uses aggressive legal action, in-depth research, collaborative policy development, and bold communications to help foster a government that is ethical and accountable, reduce the influence of money in politics, and preserve america's (continued on schedule o) democratic system of government. We highlight abuses, change behavior, raise awareness, and lay the groundwork for new policies and approaches that encourage public officials to work for the benefit of the people, not for their own enrichment or the benefit of powerful interests.
What it reported doing in 2024
Legal: crew has engaged in large-scale litigation to ensure compliance with key accountability and transparency laws including the constitution's disqualification clause, the federal records act, and the presidential records act. Crew has filed numerous ethics complaints and administrative and legal complaints with the office of government ethics, the department of justice, state prosecutors, the office of special counsel, and other agencies against executive branch officials, members of congress, and other government officials; crew has also filed complaints with the federal election commission, the internal revenue service, and other agencies concerning violations of campaign finance and tax laws by governmentofficials and those who seek to influence them, as well as by candidates for office and political or non-profit organizations. The organization has litigated against government agencies to ensure that they adequately enforce campaign finance laws and related laws.crew has initiated freedom of information act requests and other open records requests seeking information regarding potential ethics violations and conflicts of interest by government officials, the influence of moneyed interests on policy-making, secret decision-making, and actions that infringe on democratic checks and balances. The organization has filed numerous lawsuits in federal court over the government's failure to respond to some of those requests. Crew has worked to develop legislative and administrative reforms to improve ethics, transparency, and accountability in government and in campaigns and to strengthen our democratic protections, and has worked to inform legislators and others of these desired reforms. Crew has also worked to encourage appropriate congressional oversight of government.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 97% 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 56
- Transparency & Controls: 79
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 63
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 52.4%; rating input score 52
- Program expense ratio: 67.3%; rating input score 67
- Fundraising efficiency: $13.67 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 24.3%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.59; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 23.1%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 10.4% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 11.3% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 16.6% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 52.4% of revenue deployed · 67.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $5.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $411K · 16 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $922K reported
- Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 52/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 47/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 53/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.