Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Legal name: Rferl Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
521068522
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2024576937
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Culture, and Humanities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$128,982,013
Expenses
$133,076,675
Assets
$223,953,890
Liabilities
$227,576,228

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

Leadership & pay

24 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • STEPHEN ALLAN CAPUS (PRESIDENT AND CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • STEPHEN ALLAN CAPUS (PRESIDENT AND CEO): $304,481 total reported compensation
  • BENJAMIN HERMAN (GENERAL COUNSEL & SECRETARY): $250,474 total reported compensation
  • JAMES LANDIS (HEAD OF CORPORATE SECURITY): $240,450 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

RFE/RL’s mission is to promote democratic values by providing accurate, uncensored news and open debate in countries where a free press is threatened and disinformation is pervasive.

What it reported doing in 2024

Rfe/rl's russian-language programming offers russian speakers across russia, ukraine, central asia, the caucasus, the baltics, and eastern europe professional, trustworthy news that counters the narratives of hostile governments while promoting democracy and accountability. In a highly controlled and repressed media environment, rfe/rl offers a rare option to russians who seek something beyond state-controlled propaganda.radio svoboda, rfe/rl's russian service, and its two regional reporting projects - siberia.realities for residents in the trans-urals region and north.realities aimed at northwestern russia - report on russia's under-covered social, political, and human rights issues. Systema, rfe/rl's russian investigative unit, exposes corruption and malign narratives by the russian government and elites. The 24/7 current time digital network is the only non-ukrainian, russian-language outlet reporting from the front lines of the war in ukraine. Current time hosts one of the largest offerings of russian-language documentaries and docuseries, including many that are unavailable to russian audiences. Current time broadcasts programming on media literacy, education, business, and human interest from the former soviet union - content rarely featured on russian state media.despite being forced to suspend on-the-ground operations within russia following the full-scale invasion of ukraine in 2022, rfe/rl continues to reach audiences inside the country. According to a 2023 nationwide survey commissioned by usagm, 8.7% of adults in russia - over 10 million people - consumed rfe/rl russian-language content weekly. Overcoming broadcast bans and the russian government's designation of rfe/rl as an "undesirable organization in february 2024, rfe/rl saw nearly 840,000 average weekly website and app visits and 8 million weekly video views across digital platforms, while current time had over 441,300 average weekly website and app visits and 32.7 million weekly video views across digital platforms.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 97% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 51
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78.9%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 76.4%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th 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: Fail
    • 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: -3.2%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.68; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.02; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.4%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 20 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 78.9% of revenue deployed · 76.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $101.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $304K · 24 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $7.7M reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 15 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 5 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 scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 16/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: CEO compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 57/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 6/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 49/100.