Healthy Democracy Fund

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
271457207
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Portland, OR, USA
Phone
5038416865
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Voter Education, Registration

Reported finances

Revenue
$541,054
Expenses
$641,902
Assets
$229,769
Liabilities
$803

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • LAUREN BABCOCK (PROGRAM CO-DIRECTOR): $67,683 total reported compensation
  • JUSTIN REEDY (PROGRAM CO-DIRECTOR): $67,683 total reported compensation
  • GRACE TAYLOR (OPERATIONS DIRECTOR): $67,683 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Healthy democracy works to elevate the voices of everyday people in public decision-making. Healthy democracy develops new formats for democratic engagement that prioritize thoughtful deliberation, transparency, and in-depth opportunities for everyday people.

What it reported doing in 2025

Delivery of lottery-selected civic assemblies: in 2025, healthy democracy (hd) designed and implemented the hughes civic assembly, in partnership with the city of fort collins (co) and several partner organizations. This civic assembly analyzed a pressing land-use issue and developed recommendations for the city council, which voted to put the recommendations on the ballot. In november 2025, fort collins voters approved the assembly's vision for the hughes site. This year we also provided pro bono consultation to several local governments and nonprofit organizations across the us on democratic lotteries and deliberative process methods.continued on schedule o.'healthy democracy (hd) designs and coordinates innovative public processes called civic assemblies, which empower everyday people to find solutions to tough policy questions. We select delegates through a democratic lottery (ensuring new and representative voices), create a process for information gathering (prioritizing breadth and credibility), and design the in-room deliberation (supporting deep collaboration, conflict exploration, and creative problem solving). Hd also coordinates logistics, technology, contracting, moderator training, stakeholder relations, and follow-up activities associated with these democratic mini-systems.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 68% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 92
  • Transparency & Controls: 55
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 17
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 85.5%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $31.68 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -18.6%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.36; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 37.7%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 85.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $549K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $68K · 14 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2012 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 18/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.