Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2024. IRS ruling in Sep 1999.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
98 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
12 people listed on the 990; $1.9M paid to officers and key staff.
Lawson R Bader’s $400K as President and CEO is at the 36th percentile of top reported officer pay among 129 $100M+ philanthropy & grantmaking 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 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | FY2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lawson R Bader | $399,997 | $393,490 | $387,750 | $365,000 | $390,000 |
| Jeffrey C Zysik | $312,413 | $305,587 | $295,150 | $290,000 | $278,300 |
| Peter a Lipsett | $240,536 | $227,897 | $228,500 | $225,100 | $215,000 |
| Gregory P Conko | $236,087 | $225,392 | $203,500 | — | — |
| Stephen M Johnson | $188,141 | $181,250 | $108,000 | — | — |
| Lukas C Dwelly | $186,290 | $179,667 | $105,625 | — | — |
| Stephanie L Giovanetti | $170,558 | $156,175 | $148,000 | — | — |
| Christopher D Renner | $163,134 | $161,704 | $154,150 | — | — |
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
Administers donor-advised funds to support charities and foreign organizations that promote constitutional liberty, limited government, and free-market principles.
Questions for Donors Trust INC
Your first name shows with your question. Donors Trust INC answers here, for everyone.
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A Donor Advised Fund (DAF) program allowing DAF contributors to advise grants that support charities which alleviate, through education, research and private initiatives, society's most pervasive and radical needs, including those relating to social welfare, health, environment, economics, governance, foreign relations and arts and…
Donors Trust serves as an incubator for organizations with missions that align with that of Donors Trust and that are in the process of applying for tax-exempt status, thereby allowing these start-up organizations a chance to begin operations while waiting for formal recognition of their non-profit status.
Donors Trust initiated a program to make grants to foreign NGOs for which Donors Trust receives an equivalency determination that finds had the foreign organization been (1) a U.S. based organization and (2) applied for tax-exempt status the NGO would have received recognition as a 501(c)(3) publicly supported charity.
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2024 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | Start FY24 | End FY24 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $203.9M | $193.6M |
| InvestmentsLn 11–13 | $1.09B | $1.17B |
| Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c | $171K | $131K |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $1.29B | $1.36B |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $2.1M | $1.8M |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $1.29B | $1.36B |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants to domestic organizationsLn 1 | $283.8M | $283.8M | ||
| Grants and assistance to foreign recipientsLn 3 | $327K | $327K | ||
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $1.8M | $868K | $352K | $543K |
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $1.1M | $541K | $219K | $339K |
| Pension plan contributionsLn 8 | $137K | $68K | $27K | $42K |
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $26K | $13K | $5K | $8K |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $157K | $77K | $31K | $48K |
| Legal feesLn 11b | $8K | $8K | ||
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $30K | $30K | ||
| Investment management feesLn 11f | $2.1M | $2.1M | ||
| Other fees for servicesLn 11g | $750K | $23K | $711K | $16K |
| Advertising and promotionLn 12 | $312K | $312K | ||
| Office expensesLn 13 | $134K | $52K | $46K | $36K |
| Information technologyLn 14 | $67K | $34K | $34K | |
| OccupancyLn 16 | $280K | $138K | $56K | $86K |
| TravelLn 17 | $416K | $143K | $59K | $214K |
| Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22 | $44K | $21K | $9K | $13K |
| InsuranceLn 23 | $10K | $5K | $2K | $3K |
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $67K | $8K | $45K | $14K |
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $291.5M | $286.1M | $3.7M | $1.7M |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024 Latest Viewing | $294.4M | $291.5M | $2.9M | $1.4B | 990 PDF |
| FY2023 | $158.3M | $357.9M | −$199.7M | $1.3B | 990 PDF |
| FY2022 | $323.1M | $248.1M | $74.9M | $1.4B | 990 PDF |
| FY2021 | $1.1B | $191.9M | $902.8M | $1.5B | 990 PDF |
| FY2020 | $360.2M | $185.8M | $174.4M | $607.3M | 990 PDF |
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Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2024 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $294,438,756 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 4 of 5 board members independent, no flags
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $294,438,756 across 6 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $291,549,081 across 19 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $1,364,601,090 assets, 13 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $1,362,762,870 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2024 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
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