Internet Society

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
541650477
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Fredericksburg, VA, USA
Phone
7034392120
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
International Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$47,978,162
Expenses
$43,636,588
Assets
$68,271,886
Liabilities
$4,400,101

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

Leadership & pay

25 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Andrew Sullivan (President and Chief Executive Officer (Thru 08/24))
  • Ilona Levine (Senior Vice President and General Counsel)
  • Sae-Young Park (Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer)
  • Sally Wentworth (President and Chief Executive Officer (As of 09/24))
  • Dawit Bekele (Regional Vice President - Africa)
  • Erica Ellison (Senior Vice President, People & Culture)

Highest reported compensation

  • Andrew Sullivan (President and Chief Executive Officer (Thru 08/24)): $771,861 total reported compensation
  • Sally Wentworth (President and Chief Executive Officer (As of 09/24)): $531,329 total reported compensation
  • Ilona Levine (Senior Vice President and General Counsel): $415,094 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The Internet Society's mission is to promote the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world.

What it reported doing in 2024

Growing the internet: represents isoc's efforts to decrease the internet's digital divide by bringing people and technology together. Includes isoc's work to improve and build community networks which are local complementary access solutions to bridge the connectivity gap by allowing access to the internet with the right tools and support; work to support increasing and enhancing new internet exchange points and efforts to provide a measurement tool to observe the health and evolution of the internet.

Operating model

Revenue model
Affiliate-supported. 78% of the money available for current operations came from contributions from related organizations.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 83% 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

STRONG - 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 59
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 66.3%; rating input score 66
  • Program expense ratio: 71.2%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: $307.42 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 6 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • 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: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Pass
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 94.5%; rating input score 95; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 9%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.56; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.7%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.9% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 9 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 5 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 66.3% of revenue deployed · 71.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $31.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $772K · 25 people listed · 6 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $6.7M reported
  • Consistency: 46 of 48 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 28 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 24 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.
  • 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 6 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 53/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 32/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.