The Brookings Institution

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
530196577
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
202.797.6197
Rating
87
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Economics

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$115,659,701
Expenses
$107,734,507
Assets
$571,797,924
Liabilities
$61,888,121

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

Leadership & pay

76 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CECILIA ROUSE (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • CECILIA ROUSE (PRESIDENT): $1,370,231 total reported compensation
  • JONATHAN D SCHWARTZ (GENERAL COUNSEL): $751,686 total reported compensation
  • MITCHELL L WEIN (SR VP OF FINANCE & COO): $610,201 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To equip decisionmakers with nonpartisan research and policy strategies to create a more prosperous and secure country and world.

What it reported doing in 2024

Governance studies: the governance studies program at brookings is dedicated to analyzing policy issues, political institutions and processes, and contemporary governance challenges. Our scholarship identifies areas in need of reform and proposes specific solutions with the goals of improving the performance of the national government, informing debate, and providing stakeholders with expert analysis and ideas to ensure better institutional governance. Governance studies experts focus on areas ranging from election processes, to privacy and artificial intelligence, to the legislative process, to global anti-corruption efforts. In addition to publishing myriad works of written scholarship, governance studies held a number of events open to the public on these and other timely topics.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 87% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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.
  • 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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 80
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 65
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 83%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.37 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • 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: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 54th 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: 6.9%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.31; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.2%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.8% per year; rating input score 100; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.2% per year; rating input score 100; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 83% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 49 of 49 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 8 filed program accomplishments · $89.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $1.4M · 76 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $4M reported
  • Consistency: 42 of 43 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 10 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: 44 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 21 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: 7 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 40/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.