The Pew Charitable Trusts
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 562307147
- 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
- 2025522000
- Rating
- 88
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Public Foundations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $467,971,224
- Expenses
- $392,066,052
- Assets
- $1,463,583,948
- Liabilities
- $323,515,248
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
24 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Susan K Urahn (President and CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- Susan K Urahn (President and CEO): $1,286,231 total reported compensation
- Ralph R Leslie (EVP, COO and CFO): $662,526 total reported compensation
- R James G McMillan (SVP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary): $651,772 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Pew addresses the challenges of a changing world by illuminating issues, creating common ground, and advancing ambitious strategies that lead to tangible progress. We are ambitious and know that the path to success often comes through incremental steps. We know our strengths and apply our efforts where we see the greatest potential to make a difference. We measure our progress and seek a high return on investment in all that we do because we know that lasting, measurable results matter for the communities we serve and support. Inclusion We believe that diverse voices generate better ideas. We collaborate with others because we are more effective and creative together than we are alone. We understand that adapting to multiple viewpoints is an ongoing journey, and we are committed to a welcoming and inclusive culture.
What it reported doing in 2024
Informing the public. We support the information initiatives of Pew Research Center, our Washington, D.C.-based charitable subsidiary. The Center is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan, non-advocacy organization that uses impartial, fact-based public-opinion polling and other research tools to track important issues and trends.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Affiliate-supported. 79% of the money available for current operations came from contributions from related organizations.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 53% for direct work, and 47% for grants.
- 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 some filed totals do not add up.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 84
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 78
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 82.5%; rating input score 83
- Program expense ratio: 87.6%; rating input score 88
- Fundraising efficiency: $54.33 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 76; 76th 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
- Requires narrative reports: Pass
- Conducts field audits: Fail
- May suspend future funding: Fail
- Requires financial reports: Pass
- Conducts site visits: Pass
- Requires grant agreements: Pass
- May require repayment: Pass
- Grant itemization coverage: 99.4%; rating input score 99; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 41st 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: 16.2%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.73; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.22; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.7%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.7% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.8% per year; rating input score 100; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
- Where the money goes: 82.5% of revenue deployed · 87.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 13 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $343.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $1.3M · 24 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $7.7M reported
- Consistency: 50 of 51 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 12 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 546 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 544 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 2 of 8 not reported.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.