The Epoch Times
Legal name: The Epoch Times Association Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 223848589
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- New York, NY, USA
- Phone
- 2122443395
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Cultural, Ethnic Awareness
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $125,770,097
- Expenses
- $119,063,545
- Assets
- $59,744,552
- Liabilities
- $50,512,124
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Janice Trey (Interim CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- John A Phillips (Writer): $106,581 total reported compensation
- William Cheung (CFO): $60,000 total reported compensation
- Samuel Zhou (Executive VP): $22,153 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Delivers trusted, independent journalism to inform and uplift society, and supports programs that promote education, culture, and community well-being.
What it reported doing in 2024
The Epoch Times Association, Inc. produces The Epoch Times, an independent, nonpartisan newspaper published in print and digital formats. The Epoch Times informs the public on issues of civic importance at the national, state, and local levels, including but not limited to matters relating to public health, government transparency, education, culture, and human rights, and produces thousands of news articles, investigative reports, and video programs each year, reaching millions of readers and viewers globally.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 92% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 77
- Transparency & Controls: 80
- Accountability: 70
- Sustainability: 45
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 84.4%; rating input score 84
- Program expense ratio: 89.7%; rating input score 90
- Fundraising efficiency: $1.58 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 5.3%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.5; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.85; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0.2%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 29.5% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 24.9% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 26.3% per year; rating input score 100; 96th 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: 84.4% of revenue deployed · 89.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 4 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $106.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $107K · 7 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $6.1M reported
- Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and grants
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 32 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 4/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 18/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 58/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 15/100.