The Sanders Institute
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 813250230
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2017–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020
- Location
- Burlington, VT, USA
- Phone
- 8025981234
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Research Institutes and Public Policy Analysis
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $610,253
- Expenses
- $491,006
- Assets
- $171,084
- Liabilities
- $5,205
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
4 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- David Driscoll (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- David Driscoll (Executive Director): $182,109 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Sanders Institute is a progressive policy and advocacy organization that convenes experts, elected officials, and activists to advance economic, racial, and social justice.
What it reported doing in 2024
The Gatherings - East and West Coast In Los Angeles, California, several Members of Congress and state leaders - including the governor, mayors, assemblymen and city counselors - met with community leaders, researchers and authors, to focus on the housing and quality of life was broad, deep and specific, including planning for climate resilience in building codes, addressing legal barriers to veterans housing and the often overlooked housing issue for children aging out of the foster care system, along with successful environmental environmental justice legislation and innovative international housing soultions. In Burlington, Vermont, the Institute brought leaders in various fields together to discuss issues of importance from different perspectives, rather than the usual siloed approach. Just a few of the topics were healthcare, medical price transparency, womens health, Social Security, wage and labor issues, education, the environment, civil discourse, and democracy and the media. In Dublin, Ireland, we held a public forum in partnership with I.NY to discuss international issues of concern.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and revenue has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 77
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 79
- Sustainability: 48
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 72.4%; rating input score 72
- Program expense ratio: 90%; rating input score 90
- Fundraising efficiency: $24.86 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 19.5%; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.35; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 37.1%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -1.5% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 72.4% of revenue deployed · 90% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $442K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $182K · 4 people listed
- Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2017 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 16/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 58/100.