Democracy 21
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 521948022
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2010–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2023559600
- Rating
- 47
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $101,535
- Expenses
- $84,775
- Assets
- $32,812
- Liabilities
- $11,366
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- FRED WERTHEIMER (PRESIDENT & CEO)
People named in this filing
- FRED WERTHEIMER (PRESIDENT & CEO)
- ROGER WITTEN (DIRECTOR)
- DONALD SIMON (VICE CHAIR)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Renew & reform our political system & government.
What it reported doing in 2025
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 of 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
- No current program activity. The filing reports no program spending for the current year.
The verdict
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 0
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 45
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 0%; rating input score 0
- Program expense ratio: 0%; rating input score 0
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 16.5%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.39; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.35; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.7%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 13.4% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 18% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 0% of revenue deployed · 0% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
- Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 0/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 12/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.