Labor Education and Research Project
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 382206621
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2018–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Brooklyn, NY, USA
- Phone
- 7182844144
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Labor Unions
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,047,111
- Expenses
- $2,282,876
- Assets
- $2,572,118
- Liabilities
- $271,583
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- DIANA VARENIK (OPERATIONS COORDINATOR (FROM MAY)): $50,019 total reported compensation
- ALEXANDRA DEANE (OPERATIONS COORDINATOR (THRU MAY)): $37,978 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We provide labor education through a monthly journal, published books, a national biennial conference, and regular training and events.
What it reported doing in 2025
To promote organizing, aggressive strategies to fight concessions, alliances with worker centers, and unions that are run by their members.labor education and research project d/b/a labor notes is a media and organizing project that has been the voice of union activists who want to put the movement back in the labor movement since 1979. Through its magazine, website, books, conferences, and workshops, it promotes organizing, aggressive strategies to fight concessions, alliances with worker centers, and unions that are run by their members. Labor notes is also a network of rank-and-file members, local union leaders, and labor activists who know the labor movement is worth fighting for. It encourages connections between workers in different unions, worker centers, communities, industries, and countries to strengthen the movement from the bottom up.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 82% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 89% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 68
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 79
- Sustainability: 28
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 76.5%; rating input score 76
- Program expense ratio: 62.4%; rating input score 62
- Fundraising efficiency: $13.24 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 96.6%; rating input score 97; 37th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- 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: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -11.5%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.13; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.9%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 12.8% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 10.1% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 76.5% of revenue deployed · 62.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $50K · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 31 of 32 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 7 filing years from 2018 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 45/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 8/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 38/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.