The Transparency Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 861926940
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2025–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- San Diego, CA, USA
- Phone
- 6198060698
- Rating
- 85
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Government and Public Administration
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $123,763
- Expenses
- $140,360
- Assets
- $313,273
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
People named in this filing
- DAVID T MCCULLOCH (Chairman)
- ROBBIE RILEY (Director)
- CHASE KASSEL (Director)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The coporation's purpose is to provide research, education, assistance, and advocacy to make public institutions more transparent and accountable to the people they serve.
What it reported doing in 2025
ELECTION INTEGRITY INITIATIVE: Published 1 major report and 2 issues briefs developed and promoted SAFE Vote methods and materials recruited election nonitors and workers.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
- 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. Revenue has declined or grown slowly and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 85
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 30
- Growth: 20
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 89.1%; rating input score 89
- Program expense ratio: 78.6%; rating input score 79
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -13.4%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.23; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 51.3%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: -12% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.7% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 89.1% of revenue deployed · 78.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 3 filed program accomplishments · $110K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules
- 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.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 11/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.