Trip
Legal name: The Road Information Program Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 520941402
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2019–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- (202) 466-6706
- Rating
- 64
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,109,098
- Expenses
- $1,111,777
- Assets
- $1,297,766
- Liabilities
- $140,939
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
122 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- T DEAN WORD (PRESIDENT)
- GEORGE W BILLY NORRELL (1ST VICE PRESIDENT)
- JEFF FIRTH (2ND VICE PRESIDENT)
- DAVID KEARBY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- DAVID KEARBY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $228,910 total reported compensation
- FRANK MORETTI (DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND RESEARCH): $212,471 total reported compensation
- GEORGINA ONOFRE (CONTROLLER AND DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS): $131,083 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
TRIP is a credible source of data and information for a diverse group of transportation stakeholders; delivers news and social media coverage of transportation issues and messages; and, informs and promotes discussion of policies that improve the movement of goods and people, make surface travel safer, and enhance economic development and productivity.
What it reported doing in 2025
Studying the remaining life and safety of bridges in the highway system and researching significant deterioration of major highways.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 98% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 57
- Transparency & Controls: 74
- Accountability: 86
- Sustainability: 32
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 63.7%; rating input score 64
- Program expense ratio: 61.2%; rating input score 61
- Fundraising efficiency: $4.11 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Pass
- 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: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- 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: -0.2%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.17; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 62.9%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -0.3% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -0.1% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -0.5% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 63.7% of revenue deployed · 61.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 118 of 118 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $680K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $229K · 122 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 7 filing years from 2019 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 13/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 29/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 48/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.