Equal Citizens Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
823949758
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2022
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
8572852805
Rating
64
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Legal Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$269,229
Expenses
$190,568
Assets
$230,980
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LAWRENCE LESSIG (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • PHOEBE T WONG (TREASURER): $36,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Public education, research, and litigation to promote the idea of equal political rights to citizens.

What it reported doing in 2024

The organization has ongoing digital campaigns and litigations that seek to fundamentally reform our election system and educate the public on democracy reform issues. The digital campaign creates original educational videos, podcasts, graphics, and written commentaries on current events related to u.s. Democracy reform, and disseminates the content to the public via the organization's website and social media accounts. The digital campaigns include an education project named "deliberations.us" that invites the public to deliberate the pros and cons of the electoral college system and reform options. Participants will meet in small groups on an online platform, learn about the facts of the issues, and share their opinions in group conversations. The program expenses include compensations to project organizers, consultant for content creation and technology, and website hosting fees.

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.

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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 47
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 64
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 45.6%; rating input score 46
  • Program expense ratio: 64.4%; rating input score 64
  • 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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 29.2%; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.21; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.9%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -10.9% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -10.4% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -6.7% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 45.6% of revenue deployed · 64.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $123K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $36K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2018 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 46/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 20/100.