International Foundation for Electoral Systems
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 521527835
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2023506764
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- International Development
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $54,102,511
- Expenses
- $54,032,134
- Assets
- $18,300,996
- Liabilities
- $14,460,272
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
39 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ANTHONY BANBURY (PRESIDENT & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- PETER ERBEN (COUNTRY DIRECTOR, UKRAINE): $544,221 total reported compensation
- ANTHONY BANBURY (PRESIDENT & CEO): $464,375 total reported compensation
- MICHAEL YARD (COUNTRY DIRECTOR): $360,558 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
IFES advances democracy for a better future. We collaborate with civil society, public institutions, and the private sector to build resilient democracies that deliver for everyone.
What it reported doing in 2024
Through the rise project, ifes provides technical assistance to election management bodies, works with domestic ngos to monitor government performance in the field of elections, promotes civic literacy and education among youth through in-school civic classes and training for instructors, supports professional political finance oversight and capacity for embs and oversight bodies on election dispute resolution, and works with local organizations to promote the rights of internally displaced persons.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 95% 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 the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and revenue has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 81
- Transparency & Controls: 71
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 21
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 80.1%; rating input score 80
- Program expense ratio: 82.3%; rating input score 82
- Fundraising efficiency: $69.55 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
- Requires narrative reports: Fail
- Conducts field audits: Fail
- May suspend future funding: Fail
- Requires financial reports: Pass
- Conducts site visits: Fail
- Requires grant agreements: Fail
- May require repayment: Fail
- Grant itemization coverage: 96.9%; rating input score 97; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 0.1%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.34; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.79; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.7%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -1.9% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.1% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 5 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 80.1% of revenue deployed · 82.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 27 of 27 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $44.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $544K · 39 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.2M reported
- Consistency: 34 of 35 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 17 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 6 filed related-organization links
- 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: 6 of 8 not reported.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 32/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 18/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.