Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in Mar 1975.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
81 cents of each dollar spent went to programs.
Form 990 Part IX, line 25, columns B–D. Every line is in By the numbers.
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Who runs it and what they're paid
24 people listed on the 990; $2.1M paid to officers and key staff.
Peter Goettler’s $712K as President and CEO is at the 90th percentile of top reported officer pay among 232 $10–100M public & societal benefit nonprofits. Peer set: organizations in the same NTEE major field of work and revenue-size band, compared on each org’s own highest-paid officer/key-employee, from Form 990 Part VII / 990-PF Part VIII. Descriptive placement, not a verdict on whether the pay is appropriate.
Compensation history total reportable pay by year · 8 named individuals · Part VII
| Name | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Goettler | $711,629 | $629,856 | $568,571 | $515,648 | $517,535 |
| David Boaz | — | — | $211,060 | $319,856 | $325,382 |
| Stephen Kurtz | $313,592 | $304,008 | $287,426 | $306,182 | $266,529 |
| Lesley Albanese | — | $272,595 | $246,641 | $245,103 | $264,100 |
| Norbert Michel | $247,637 | $227,711 | $227,381 | — | — |
| Scott Lincicome | $245,178 | $236,350 | $213,607 | $202,732 | — |
| Gene Healy | $239,165 | — | — | — | — |
| Clark Neily | $235,896 | $226,692 | $221,208 | $216,308 | $198,923 |
Total reportable compensation (Form 990 Part VII column D / Schedule J column E) by filing year, matched by name within this organization. The Schedule J base / bonus / deferred breakdown is not parsed into this dataset.
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Questions the 990 asks
The form asks each of these directly. These are the filed answers.
- Family or business ties among officersPt VI · Ln 2No
- Top official's pay set by an independent reviewPt VI · Ln 15aYes
Programs and updates
Conducts research and educates the public and policymakers to promote individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peaceful international relations.
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Public Policy & Research
Our vision is to create free, open, and civil societies founded on libertarian principles. To that end, our scholars and analysts conduct and publish independent, nonpartisan research on a wide range of policy issues across more than 14 research areas, including law and civil liberties, tax and budget policy, regulatory studies, health…
Educational Program
Cato hosts public events and conferences in order to engage diverse audiences on our research and policy prescriptions, and also proactively invests in the next generation through its student programs.
Communications & External Affairs
Cato scholars engage and educate broad audiences on our policy prescriptions by dissemination of our research through speaking engagements, briefings, op-eds and blogs, podcasts, television and radio appearances, and our websites, which receive over 16 million visits annually.
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2021 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | Start FY21 | End FY21 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $15.8M | $28.3M |
| InvestmentsLn 11–13 | $33.0M | $38.7M |
| Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c | $31.8M | $30.6M |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $85.6M | $103.8M |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $4.2M | $2.7M |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $81.4M | $101.1M |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants to domestic organizationsLn 1 | $59K | $59K | ||
| Grants to domestic individualsLn 2 | $408K | $408K | ||
| Grants and assistance to foreign recipientsLn 3 | $202K | $202K | ||
| Benefits paid to or for membersLn 4 | $0 | |||
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $1.1M | $495K | $319K | $275K |
| Pay of disqualified personsLn 6 | $0 | |||
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $14.6M | $12.5M | $983K | $1.1M |
| Pension plan contributionsLn 8 | $779K | $634K | $67K | $78K |
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $1.2M | $870K | $185K | $187K |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $1.0M | $1.0M | ||
| Management feesLn 11a | $0 | |||
| Legal feesLn 11b | $90K | $38K | $52K | $1K |
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $82K | $82K | ||
| Lobbying feesLn 11d | $0 | |||
| Professional fundraising feesLn 11e | $372K | $372K | ||
| Investment management feesLn 11f | $161K | $161K | ||
| Other fees for servicesLn 11g | $801K | $604K | $151K | $46K |
| Advertising and promotionLn 12 | $173K | $172K | $388 | $493 |
| Office expensesLn 13 | $2.8M | $2.2M | $102K | $449K |
| Information technologyLn 14 | $439K | $363K | $34K | $43K |
| RoyaltiesLn 15 | $0 | |||
| OccupancyLn 16 | $1.1M | $916K | $92K | $117K |
| TravelLn 17 | $25K | $20K | $354 | $5K |
| Travel and entertainment for public officialsLn 18 | $0 | |||
| Conferences, conventions and meetingsLn 19 | $119K | $104K | $16K | $280 |
| InterestLn 20 | $4K | $4K | $376 | $479 |
| Payments to affiliatesLn 21 | $0 | |||
| Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22 | $1.3M | $1.0M | $109K | $139K |
| InsuranceLn 23 | $0 | |||
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $1.2M | $1.1M | $100K | $85K |
| All other expensesLn 24e | $130K | $130K | ||
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $28.2M | $22.9M | $2.5M | $2.9M |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 Latest | $62.8M | $47.4M | $15.5M | $187.1M | 990 PDF |
| FY2024 | $71.9M | $41.8M | $30.1M | $170.1M | 990 PDF |
| FY2023 | $57.7M | $37.7M | $19.9M | $132.7M | 990 PDF |
| FY2022 | $45.9M | $31.3M | $14.6M | $114.2M | 990 PDF |
| FY2021 Viewing | $43.0M | $28.2M | $14.8M | $101.1M | 990 PDF |
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Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2021 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $43,021,209 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 16 of 17 board members independent, no flags
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $43,021,209 across 10 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $28,207,239 across 31 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $103,817,347 assets, 24 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $101,093,115 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2021 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
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