Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in Mar 1979.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
87 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
32 people listed on the 990; $2.4M paid to officers and key staff.
David Nott’s $408K as President, CEO is at the 81st percentile of top reported officer pay among 3683 $10–100M education 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 Nott | $407,827 | $418,617 | $412,948 | $411,628 | $409,134 | $411,897 |
| Adrian T Moore | $256,830 | $232,056 | $221,122 | $211,956 | $202,179 | $205,554 |
| Jonathan Graff | $250,251 | $224,322 | $213,402 | $202,461 | $194,134 | $193,731 |
| Leonard Gilroy | $250,237 | $221,540 | $211,454 | $202,500 | $188,982 | $189,605 |
| Nicholas Gillespie | $247,174 | $234,517 | $227,014 | $227,417 | $227,265 | $227,825 |
| Katherine Mangu-Ward | $240,585 | $219,666 | $216,667 | $202,500 | $195,000 | $186,667 |
| Robert Poole | $240,000 | $235,000 | $230,833 | $230,000 | $230,000 | $226,667 |
| Michael Alissi | $230,439 | $202,086 | $193,356 | $182,835 | $175,591 | $181,431 |
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
Promotes libertarian principles to advance a free society.
Questions for The Reason Foundation
Your first name shows with your question. The Reason Foundation answers here, for everyone.
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Promoting free minds and free markets since 1968- 11 issues published- 52,000 PAID/REQUESTED copies and 4,000 newsstand copies sold per month- average of 4.9 million user visits per month at REASON.COM and 5.1 million visits to reasontv
Reason works with motivated policymakers to develop and implement market-based reforms that are a model for reform-minded policymakers at all levels of government. Our pension integrity project educates policymakers and taxpayers on pension reform.
"promoting free minds and free markets through online video JOURNALISM.- 142 videos produced- average of 5,100,000 videos played each monthpodcastsreason produces 3 podcasts: the reason roundtable, a weekly discussion of the week's biggest stories and their connection to the ideas of free minds and free markets; the reason interview with…
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 | $1.5M | $2.4M |
| InvestmentsLn 11–13 | $10.6M | $13.5M |
| Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c | $2.7M | $2.7M |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $15.2M | $19.3M |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $2.1M | $2.6M |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $13.1M | $16.7M |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $1.9M | $1.6M | $69K | $182K |
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $5.7M | $5.0M | $211K | $528K |
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $318K | $266K | $11K | $41K |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $731K | $567K | $42K | $123K |
| Legal feesLn 11b | $103K | $103K | ||
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $30K | $2K | $29K | |
| Other fees for servicesLn 11g | $1.8M | $1.7M | $58K | |
| Advertising and promotionLn 12 | $387K | $383K | $2K | $2K |
| Office expensesLn 13 | $296K | $180K | $7K | $109K |
| Information technologyLn 14 | $163K | $151K | $2K | $10K |
| OccupancyLn 16 | $365K | $314K | $19K | $31K |
| TravelLn 17 | $128K | $92K | $2K | $34K |
| Conferences, conventions and meetingsLn 19 | $150K | $144K | $6K | |
| Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22 | $37K | $32K | $1K | $3K |
| InsuranceLn 23 | $144K | $126K | $5K | $13K |
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $1.1M | $1.0M | $226 | $94K |
| All other expensesLn 24e | $96K | $88K | $3K | $5K |
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $13.4M | $11.7M | $507K | $1.2M |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 Latest | $22.8M | $22.0M | $846K | $22.0M | 990 PDF |
| FY2024 | $23.3M | $19.9M | $3.4M | $19.4M | 990 PDF |
| FY2023 | $15.5M | $17.5M | −$2.1M | $13.4M | 990 PDF |
| FY2022 | $15.2M | $15.0M | $252K | $14.6M | 990 PDF |
| FY2021 Viewing | $15.5M | $13.4M | $2.1M | $16.7M | 990 PDF |
| FY2020 | $16.2M | $13.1M | $3.1M | $13.1M | 990 PDF |
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Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2021 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $15,534,857 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 20 of 22 board members independent, no flags
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $15,534,857 across 10 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $13,413,869 across 17 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $19,282,371 assets, 17 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $16,651,262 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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