National Retail Federation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
135582627
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2027837971
Rating confidence
Limited

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$93,415,296
Expenses
$92,834,925
Assets
$78,381,729
Liabilities
$58,116,277

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

Leadership & pay

42 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MATTHEW R SHAY (PRESIDENT AND CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • MATTHEW R SHAY (PRESIDENT AND CEO): $6,311,852 total reported compensation
  • DAVID FRENCH (SVP, GOVERNMENT RELATIONS): $1,268,422 total reported compensation
  • STEPHANIE MARTZ (SECRETARY AND GENERAL COUNSEL): $1,080,474 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Nrf's mission is to advance and protect the interests of the retail industry and to help retailers achieve excellence in all areas of their business.

What it reported doing in 2025

Nrf helps retailers achieve excellence in all areas of their business through its annual convention, conferences and workshops. These events bring retailers together with industry thought leaders and suppliers to explore research on the future of retail; examine benchmarking and best practices of industry peers; and learn about cutting edge products from the industry's leading solution providers. Designed to meet the needs of a variety of retail disciplines including strategy and retail operations, technology, e-commerce, loss prevention and marketing the events attract more than 40,000 industry professionals annually.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 98% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

- The available evidence is not sufficient to produce an overall rating for this filing. This is not a warning sign.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: NotEnoughData
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 94
  • Sustainability: 26
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: Limited
  • Program expense ratio: Limited
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th 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: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 96.9%; rating input score 97; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 0.6%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.84; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.74; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.6%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.6% per year; rating input score 100; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
  • Governance: 31 of 32 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments
  • Leadership: top reported pay $6.3M · 42 people listed · 6 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $4M reported
  • Consistency: 12 of 12 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes foreign activity, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 34/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 25/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 2/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 20/100.