Center for Digital Democracy

Tax-deductible

Washington, DC501(c)(3)Since 2001Civil Rights & AdvocacyEIN 52-2311577Revenue $299K in FY2025

On file with the IRSdemocraticmedia.org1015 15th St Nw Ste 600, 20005-2605 · Washington, DCTax-exempt since Dec 2001Publicly supported charity — 170(b)(1)(A)(vi)

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The Center for Digital Democracy's (CDD) mission is to ensure that digital technologies serve and strengthen democratic values, institutions and processes. CDD strives to safeguard privacy and civil and human rights, as well as to advance equity, fairness and community. CDD works to protect and expand digital rights and data justice through research-led initiatives designed to influence policymakers, corporate leaders, the news media, civil society and the general public. The organization focuses on developing and advocating for rules and policies that: (1) foster privacy, justice and non-discriminatory treatment in the digital marketplace; (2) safeguard young people against unfair, manipulative and other harmful practices; (3) promote responsible commercial data and digital marketing operations in political campaigns and elections; and (4) ensure that digital marketing practices contribute to fair and equitable public health outcomes.

501(c)(3) charity; gifts are tax-deductible.
94¢ of each $1 spent went to programs.
Run by 3 volunteers and 3 employees.
Mission: Form 990 Part I, line 1 · Status: IRS Pub. 78 · Programs: Part IX · People: Part I, lines 5–6

Before you give

FY2025 · Form 990Independent: from IRS data, not the org
Download 990
IRS status
501(c)(3)
not on the IRS revocation list
Looks good: listed by the IRS and not on the revocation list.
IRS BMF · Auto-Revocation List
Tax-deductible gifts
Yes
Donations are tax-deductible
Looks good: the IRS lists gifts to it as deductible.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS BMF
Latest return
FY2025
latest Form 990
Looks good: the latest return is for FY2025, 1 tax year back; within 2 tax years.
IRS e-file · Filing history
Surplus or deficit
2 of 6
filings with a surplus
Average deficit $19K a year · 4% of revenue · last 6 filings
Concern: a surplus in 2 of the last 6 filings.
Pt I · Ln 19 · 6 filings
Spent on programs
94%
of spending
Looks good: 94% of spending went to programs; 75% or more.
Pt IX · Ln 25 · col B
Pay to officers and key staff
$76K
to officers and key staff · 17% of spending
Top officer’s pay higher than 54% of similar orgs
Fine: pay to officers and key staff is 17% of spending; 15% to 20%.
Pt VII · Sec A
Cash reserves
2 mo
of spending, in cash
Fine: 1.5 months of spending in cash; 1 to 3.
Pt X · Ln 1–2 · Pt I · Ln 18
Named funders
3
named funders · $299K
Looks good: 3 funders name it on their filings; 3 or more.
Funders’ Sch. I, 990-PF
Liabilities
$12K
7% of total assets
Looks good: liabilities are 7% of assets; 50% or less.
Pt X · Ln 26
Independent board members
3
of 4 voting members
Looks good: 3 of 4 voting members are independent, a majority.
Pt VI · Ln 1a–1b
Looks goodFineWorth a lookConcernNo data yetTap a box for the reason.
Revenue
$299K
+184% vs prior year
Spent
$455K
To programs
94%
Net assets
$156K
By yearFY2020–FY2025
Revenue
$299K
FY2025▲ +184%
Tap a bar for its year
Revenue by fiscal year
FY2020$1.0M
FY2021$530K
FY2022$1.0M
FY2023$115K
FY2024$105K
FY2025$299K
Expenses
$455K
FY2025▼ -22%
Tap a bar for its year
Expenses by fiscal year
FY2020$396K
FY2021$552K
FY2022$563K
FY2023$639K
FY2024$581K
FY2025$455K
Net assets
$156K
FY2025▼ -50%
Tap a bar for its year
Net assets by fiscal year
FY2020$889K
FY2021$867K
FY2022$1.3M
FY2023$787K
FY2024$312K
FY2025$156K

From the FY2025 Form 990 · see the original

Give Claim

Is it real?

Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in Dec 2001.

IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File

Where the money goes

94 cents of each dollar spent went to programs.

Program services 94% · $427K Management & general 5% · $24K Fundraising 1% · $4K

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

4 people listed on the 990; $76K paid to officers and key staff.

Part VII, Section A · reportable compensation
$76,175Pt VII · Sec A
$0Pt VII · Sec A
Managing Director
$0Pt VII · Sec A
$0Pt VII · Sec A

Jeffrey Chester’s $76K as President is at the 54th percentile of top reported officer pay among 1031 $100K–1M civil rights & advocacy 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 · 3 named individuals · Part VII

NameFY2025FY2024FY2023FY2022FY2021FY2020
Katharina Kopp—$144,100$143,008$131,000——
Kathryn Montgomery—$116,481$143,008$109,167——
Jeffrey Chester$76,175$118,342$142,976$133,000$127,500$89,536

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.

See Center for Digital Democracy executive salaries →

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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 2Yes
  • Top official's pay set by an independent reviewPt VI · Ln 15aNo

Programs and updates

Promote open internet and public interest programming for digital communication.

Provided by the organization

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2 programs · $427K · in their own filed words · FY2025
01

Digital Safeguards for Children and Youth

Children are growing up tethered to social media, video entertainment, gaming and mobile platforms operated by Facebook, Google, and other powerful corporations. There is a growing body of evidence documenting how the technology industry has significantly increased risks to children's privacy; bombarded them with misinformation, hate and…

$422Kprogram expense
02

The Center's Media Accountability Program identifies, analyzes and develops public education initiatives to ensure the U.S. digital media system operates in ways that support democracy.

$5Kprogram expense

Funders

Who pays for it.

From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.

Grants

Schedule I · funders on record
Grants received · FY2023
Total grants receivedfrom 3 funders$299K
See all 3 funders →

By the numbers

The FY2025 990, line by line.

1The main four
Money inPt VIII
$299K
Ln 12
Fees for servicesLn 2g$224K
Gifts and grantsLn 1h$71K
Investment incomeLn 3$5K
Money outPt IX
$455K
Ln 25
Programscol B$427K
Managementcol C$24K
Fundraisingcol D$4K
Owns and owesPt X
$156K
net assets · Ln 32
Cash and savingsLn 1–2$56K
Total assetsLn 16$168K
LiabilitiesLn 26$12K
PeoplePt VI, VII
4
listed · VII A
PaidVII A1
Voting boardVI 1a4
IndependentVI 1b3
2In more detail
Revenue in detailPt VIII
Gifts and grantsLn 1h$71K
Government grantsLn 1e$0
Noncash giftsLn 1g$0
Fundraising eventsLn 1c$0
Fees for servicesLn 2g$224K
Investment incomeLn 3$5K
Gains on assetsLn 7$0
Total revenueLn 12$299K
Assets in detailPt X, end of year
CashLn 1$17K
SavingsLn 2$39K
Cash and savings togetherLn 1–2$56K
InvestmentsLn 11–13$77K
Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c$3K
Other assetsLn 15$75
Total assetsLn 16$168K
LiabilitiesLn 26$12K
Net assetsLn 32$156K
OperationsPt I, VI
EmployeesI 53
VolunteersI 63
Fiscal year endsHeaderDecember
Conflict-of-interest policyVI 12aYes
Whistleblower policyVI 13Yes
Records policyVI 14Yes
3Year over year
Balance sheet, start vs end of yearPt X · col A, B
LineStart FY25End FY25
Cash and savingsLn 1–2$175K$56K
InvestmentsLn 11–13$134K$77K
Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c$5K$3K
Total assetsLn 16$320K$168K
LiabilitiesLn 26$9K$12K
Net assetsLn 32$312K$156K
4Every line
Statement of functional expensesPt IX · every line
LineTotalProgramsManagementFundraising
Grants to domestic organizationsLn 1$1K$1K
Grants to domestic individualsLn 2$0$0
Grants and assistance to foreign recipientsLn 3$0$0
Benefits paid to or for membersLn 4$0$0
Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5$82K$82K$0$0
Pay of disqualified personsLn 6$0$0$0$0
Other salaries and wagesLn 7$124K$111K$11K$2K
Pension plan contributionsLn 8$6K$5K$2K$123
Other employee benefitsLn 9$9K$6K$3K$266
Payroll taxesLn 10$17K$15K$1K$70
Management feesLn 11a$0$0$0$0
Legal feesLn 11b$0$0$0$0
Accounting feesLn 11c$3K$0$3K$0
Lobbying feesLn 11d$0$0$0$0
Professional fundraising feesLn 11e$0$0
Investment management feesLn 11f$0$0$0$0
Other fees for servicesLn 11g$92K$91K$0$891
Advertising and promotionLn 12$5K$5K$0$0
Office expensesLn 13$8K$7K$424$94
Information technologyLn 14$9K$8K$489$109
RoyaltiesLn 15$0$0$0$0
OccupancyLn 16$3K$3K$148$33
TravelLn 17$57K$57K$0$0
Travel and entertainment for public officialsLn 18$0$0$0$0
Conferences, conventions and meetingsLn 19$2K$2K$208$0
InterestLn 20$0$0$0$0
Payments to affiliatesLn 21$0$0$0$0
Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22$2K$0$2K$0
InsuranceLn 23$1K$629$513$0
Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24$35K$35K$102$0
All other expensesLn 24e$0$0$0$0
Total functional expensesLn 25$455K$427K$24K$4K

Filing history

YearMoney inMoney outIn minus outNet assetsDownload
FY2025 Latest Viewing $299K$455K−$156K$156K 990 PDF
FY2024 $105K$581K−$475K$312K 990 PDF
FY2023 $115K$639K−$524K$787K 990 PDF
FY2022 $1.0M$563K$444K$1.3M 990 PDF
FY2021 $530K$552K−$22K$867K 990 PDF
FY2020 $1.0M$396K$620K$889K 990 PDF

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Schedules filed Part IV

III · Programs I · Grants R · Related orgs G · Fundraising L · Interested persons A · Public support F · Foreign M · Noncash
See the full FY2025 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $299,283 revenue, 12 lines filed
I-8 Contributions and grantsPrior year $7,984$70,582
I-9 Program service revenuePrior year $81,139$224,092
I-10 Investment incomePrior year $16,368$4,609
I-11 Other revenuePrior year $0$0
I-12 Total revenuePrior year $105,491$299,283
I-13 Grants and similar amounts paidPrior year $3,603$1,050
I-14 Benefits paid to membersPrior year $0$0
I-15 Salaries and benefitsPrior year $443,509$237,849
I-16a Professional fundraising feesPrior year $0$0
I-17 Other expensesPrior year $133,868$215,894
I-18 Total expensesPrior year $580,980$454,793
I-19 Revenue less expensesPrior year −$475,489−$155,510
Part VI · Governance 3 of 4 board members independent, 2 to look at
VI-1a Voting members of the governing body4
VI-1b Independent voting members3
VI-2 Family or business relationship among officers or directorsYes
VI-15a Process for setting top official's payNo
VI-12a Written conflict of interest policyYes
VI-13 Written whistleblower policyYes
VI-14 Document retention and destruction policyYes
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $299,283 across 15 lines filed
VIII-1a Federated campaigns$0
VIII-1b Membership dues$0
VIII-1c Fundraising events$0
VIII-1d Related organizations$0
VIII-1e Government grants$0
VIII-1f All other contributions, gifts and grants$70,582
VIII-1g Noncash contributions (included above)$0
VIII-1h Total contributions, gifts and grants$70,582
VIII-2a-f Program service revenue, itemized rows (sum of 2a–2f as filed)Related to mission $224,092 · Unrelated business $0 · Excluded from tax $0$224,092
VIII-3 Investment incomeRelated to mission $0 · Unrelated business $0 · Excluded from tax $4,609$4,609
VIII-5 RoyaltiesRelated to mission $0 · Unrelated business $0 · Excluded from tax $0$0
VIII-6 Net rental income or lossRelated to mission $0 · Unrelated business $0 · Excluded from tax $0$0
VIII-7 Net gain or loss on sales of assetsRelated to mission $0 · Unrelated business $0 · Excluded from tax $0$0
VIII-8 Net income from fundraising eventsUnrelated business $0 · Excluded from tax $0$0
VIII-12 Total revenueRelated to mission $224,092 · Unrelated business $0 · Excluded from tax $4,609$299,283
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $454,793 across 31 lines filed
IX-1 Grants to domestic organizationsPrograms $1,050$1,050
IX-2 Grants to domestic individualsPrograms $0$0
IX-3 Grants and assistance to foreign recipientsPrograms $0$0
IX-4 Benefits paid to or for membersPrograms $0$0
IX-5 Pay of current officers, directors and key staffPrograms $81,984 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$81,984
IX-6 Pay of disqualified personsPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-7 Other salaries and wagesPrograms $110,748 · Management $11,039 · Fundraising $2,458$124,245
IX-8 Pension plan contributionsPrograms $4,553 · Management $1,535 · Fundraising $123$6,211
IX-9 Other employee benefitsPrograms $5,572 · Management $3,061 · Fundraising $266$8,899
IX-10 Payroll taxesPrograms $15,212 · Management $1,228 · Fundraising $70$16,510
IX-11a Management feesPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-11b Legal feesPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-11c Accounting feesPrograms $0 · Management $2,763 · Fundraising $0$2,763
IX-11d Lobbying feesPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-11e Professional fundraising feesFundraising $0$0
IX-11f Investment management feesPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-11g Other fees for servicesPrograms $90,894 · Management $0 · Fundraising $891$91,785
IX-12 Advertising and promotionPrograms $4,708 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$4,708
IX-13 Office expensesPrograms $7,175 · Management $424 · Fundraising $94$7,693
IX-14 Information technologyPrograms $8,279 · Management $489 · Fundraising $109$8,877
IX-15 RoyaltiesPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-16 OccupancyPrograms $2,506 · Management $148 · Fundraising $33$2,687
IX-17 TravelPrograms $57,110 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$57,110
IX-18 Travel and entertainment for public officialsPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-19 Conferences, conventions and meetingsPrograms $1,989 · Management $208 · Fundraising $0$2,197
IX-20 InterestPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-21 Payments to affiliatesPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-22 Depreciation, depletion and amortizationPrograms $0 · Management $2,328 · Fundraising $0$2,328
IX-23 InsurancePrograms $629 · Management $513 · Fundraising $0$1,142
IX-24 Other expenses (24a–d)Programs $34,502 · Management $102 · Fundraising $0$34,604
IX-24e All other expensesPrograms $0 · Management $0 · Fundraising $0$0
IX-25 Total functional expensesPrograms $426,911 · Management $23,838 · Fundraising $4,044$454,793
Part X · Balance sheet $168,276 assets, 23 lines filed
X-1 Cash, non-interest-bearingStart of year $10,647$17,033
X-2 Savings and temporary cash investmentsStart of year $164,807$38,584
X-3 Pledges and grants receivableStart of year $0$0
X-4 Accounts receivableStart of year $0$30,510
X-8 Inventories for sale or useStart of year $0$0
X-9 Prepaid expenses and deferred chargesStart of year $6,390$2,372
X-10c Land, buildings and equipment, netStart of year $4,655$2,973
X-11 Publicly traded securitiesStart of year $133,920$76,729
X-12 Other securitiesStart of year $0$0
X-13 Program-related investmentsStart of year $0$0
X-14 Intangible assetsStart of year $0$0
X-15 Other assetsStart of year $75$75
X-16 Total assetsStart of year $320,494$168,276
X-17 Accounts payable and accrued expensesStart of year $4,963$11,941
X-18 Grants payableStart of year $0$0
X-19 Deferred revenueStart of year $3,686$0
X-20 Tax-exempt bond liabilitiesStart of year $0$0
X-24 Unsecured notes and loans payableStart of year $0$0
X-26 Total liabilitiesStart of year $8,649$11,941
X-27 Net assets without donor restrictionsStart of year $303,623$132,856
X-28 Net assets with donor restrictionsStart of year $8,222$23,479
X-32 Total net assets or fund balancesStart of year $311,845$156,335
X-33 Total liabilities and net assetsStart of year $320,494$168,276
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $156,335 net assets at year end
XI-1 Total revenue$299,283
XI-2 Total expenses$454,793
XI-3 Revenue less expenses−$155,510
XI-4 Net assets at start of year$311,845
XI-5 Net unrealized gains (losses) on investments$0
XI-6 Donated services and use of facilities$0
XI-7 Investment expenses$0
XI-8 Prior period adjustments$0
XI-9 Other changes in net assets$0
XI-10 Net assets at end of year$156,335

Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2025 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File

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