Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in Oct 2020.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
64 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; $584K paid to officers and key staff.
David Cohen’s $162K as Director, President, Co-CEO is at the 63rd percentile of top reported officer pay among 797 $1–10M 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 · 8 named individuals · Part VII
| Name | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | FY2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Cohen | $162,500 | $62,500 | $102,742 | $159,003 | $49,503 | $105,104 |
| Victoria Hausman | $100,000 | $62,500 | $134,195 | $127,632 | $31,250 | $61,563 |
| Jeff Rotkoff | $120,000 | $42,000 | $82,701 | — | — | — |
| Benjamin Wexler-Waite | — | — | — | — | $50,500 | $88,613 |
| Ethan Roeder | $65,275 | $31,500 | $56,175 | $64,644 | $41,162 | $66,013 |
| Aaron Marquez | — | — | — | — | $7,454 | $61,800 |
| Emily Berman | — | — | — | $59,304 | $23,438 | — |
| Trent Armitage | $43,167 | $8,500 | $31,945 | $53,187 | $30,315 | — |
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
Strengthens democracy by protecting voting rights, engaging voters, and promoting accountable government and civil discourse.
Questions for Fair Democracy
Your first name shows with your question. Fair Democracy answers here, for everyone.
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Fair democracy works to build an engaged and informed electorate with state legislative tracking and voter education on a range of state-level issues, with a focus on voting rights, ethics in government, education, tax reform and health care.
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2025 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | Start FY25 | End FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $946K | $1.4M |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $1.3M | $1.4M |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $65K | $843K |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $1.3M | $592K |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants to domestic organizationsLn 1 | $1.4M | $1.4M | ||
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $475K | $301K | $0 | $174K |
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $488K | $394K | $0 | $95K |
| Pension plan contributionsLn 8 | $19K | $15K | $0 | $4K |
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $45K | $37K | $0 | $8K |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $80K | $57K | $0 | $23K |
| Legal feesLn 11b | $147K | $0 | $147K | $0 |
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $7K | $0 | $7K | $0 |
| Other fees for servicesLn 11g | $94K | $82K | $10K | $2K |
| Advertising and promotionLn 12 | $484K | $484K | $0 | $0 |
| Office expensesLn 13 | $4K | $0 | $4K | $1 |
| Information technologyLn 14 | $92K | $46K | $38K | $8K |
| OccupancyLn 16 | $17K | $0 | $9K | $9K |
| TravelLn 17 | $25K | $24K | $0 | $919 |
| Conferences, conventions and meetingsLn 19 | $35K | $2K | $33K | $0 |
| InsuranceLn 23 | $36K | $0 | $36K | $0 |
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $1.0M | $0 | $1.0M | $0 |
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $4.5M | $2.9M | $1.3M | $323K |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 Latest Viewing | $3.8M | $4.5M | −$661K | $592K | 990 PDF |
| FY2024 | $9.3M | $8.6M | $683K | $1.3M | 990 PDF |
| FY2023 | $13.0M | $12.8M | $205K | $570K | 990 PDF |
| FY2022 | $1.0M | $1.0M | −$13K | $365K | 990 PDF |
| FY2021 | $2.1M | $1.8M | $300K | $378K | 990 PDF |
| FY2020 | $740K | $809K | −$69K | $78K | 990 PDF |
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Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2025 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $3,834,019 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 2 of 3 board members independent, 2 to look at
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $3,834,019 across 4 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $4,495,299 across 17 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $1,434,554 assets, 7 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $591,810 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2025 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
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