Us Russia Foundation for Economic Advancement and the Rule of Law
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 010732928
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2024957888
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- International Economic Development
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $13,486,956
- Expenses
- $11,439,467
- Assets
- $210,555,113
- Liabilities
- $2,143,035
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
17 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MATTHEW ROJANSKY (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
Highest reported compensation
- MATTHEW ROJANSKY (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $511,325 total reported compensation
- ALAN GRIFFIN (COO/CFO): $393,116 total reported compensation
- MARIA LVOVA (SENIOR PROGRAM OFFICER): $180,921 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The u.s. Russia foundation (usrf) was founded in 2008 as a legacy organization of the u.s. Russia investment fund (tusrif), whose mission was to support the independent private sector as a bulwark of democracy in russia. Today, usrf supports the long-term future of a market-based democratic system in russia by making grants in three main areas: media & free enterprise, rule of law, and civil society & expertise.
What it reported doing in 2025
Rule of law: support for outreach, education, and training in international and domestic law, expertise and best practices that build the capacity of russians to develop and sustain laws, institutions, and jurisprudence that protect citizens' rights and that will enable good governance at the local, regional, and national levels. Usrf is committed to protecting the vulnerable and advancing pro-democracy institutions in russia as well as capacity building for russian attorneys.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Investment-supported. 83% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 87% of its reported program spending out as grants.
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 reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 85
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 72
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 73.2%; rating input score 73
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
- Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
- Requires narrative reports: Pass
- Conducts field audits: Pass
- May suspend future funding: Limited
- Requires financial reports: Pass
- Conducts site visits: Pass
- Requires grant agreements: Limited
- May require repayment: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 15.2%; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 18.41; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 12.4%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 12% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -7.6% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.3% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 73.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $8.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $511K · 17 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $1.3M reported
- Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2009 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 37 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.