Chart: Tax-exempt tech influence
Jobs at influential nonprofit organizations can pay well--sometimes even better than those at the companies they represent.
Silicon money: How do tech firms buy influence in Washington?
Nonprofits, trade associations
March 28, 2006 4:00 AM PST
Some companies and groups that want to lobby Congress exercise their influence indirectly, through nonprofit organizations.
The chart below is interactive. You can sort columns by clicking the appropriate header, and you can select and deselect rows by clicking on text within each cell. Your selection will persist through re-sorting. To clear all sorting, simply refresh this page.
Total rows:
Selected rows: 0
Clear selected rows
Top Earner | Second-to-top Earner | Third-to-top Earner | ||||||||
Organization | Year filled | Total revenue | Total assets | Name, title | Salary | Name, title | Salary | Name, title | Salary | Select funders |
ACLU Foundation | 2004 | 48,731,320 | 216,743,385 | Steven Shapiro, legal director | 166,036 | Linda Hills, director of affliliate support | 156,696 | Emily Tynes, director of communication | 156,696 | Cannot disclose |
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research | 2003 | 24,934,545 | 51,191,488 | Christopher DeMuth, president and trustee | 535,000 | David Gerson, executive vice president | 290,000 | Kevin Hassett, scholar | 152,500 | Individual donors, foundations, corporations (not named in annual report) |
American Library Association | 2004 | 45,338,474 | 50,503,470 | Keith Fiels, executive director | 193,628 | Mary Ghikas, senior associate executive director | 156,917 | Gregory Calloway, associate executive director | 139,235 | Membership dues, Verizon Communications, Walgreens |
American Registry for Internet Numbers | 2004 | 8,635,824 | 18,018,062 | Ray Plzak, president | 179,400 | John Curran, temporary president | 25,500 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
The Apache Software Foundation | 2003 | 2,875 | 112,187 | No paid employees | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | Individual donors |
Association for Competitive Technology | 2003 | 1,174,275 | 36,203 | Jonathan Zuck, president | 150,000 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | eBay, Microsoft, Oracle, Orbitz, VeriSign |
The Brookings Institution | 2002 | 11,384,194 | 227,650,396 | Strobe Talbott, president | 332,138 | James Steinberg, director of foreign-policy studies | 215,300 | Thomas Mann, senior fellow | 191,500 | n/a |
Business Software Alliance | 2003 | 42,144,806 | 17,132,533 | Robert Holleyman, president | 452,670 | Scott Van Hove, vice president of global operations | 239,657 | n/a | n/a | Cannot disclose |
Cato Institute | 2004 | 12,975,701 | 19,199,500 | Edward Crane, president and CEO | 382,076 | David Boaz, executive vice president | 185,000 | William Niskanen, chairman | 142,000 | Comcast, FedEx, GM, Honda, Mazda, Microsoft, Mitsubishi, The Economist, Time Warner, Toyota, VeriSign, Verizon Communications, Volkswagen, Wal-Mart Stores |
CTIA | 2004 | 11,964,938 | 49,911,641 | Thomas Wheeler, president and CEO | 882,111 | Steve Berry, senior vice president | 314,906 | Michael Altschul, senior vice president and general counsel | 278,494 | no reponse |
Center for Democracy and Technology | 2004 | 2,792,856 | 1,719,437 | Jerry Berman, president | 223,111 | James Dempsey, executive director | 132,511 | John Morris, director | 110,605 | Time Warner, AT&T, EarthLink, eBay, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Verizon Communications, Yahoo |
Center for Strategic and International Studies | 2004 | 22,951,014 | 36,362,814 | John Hamre, president and CEO | 375,000 | Kurt Campbell, senior vice president and director | 182,115 | Robin Niblett, executive vice president and director | 154,423 | U.S. government, foundations, corporations (not named in annual report) |
Computer & Communications Industry Association | 2004 | 23,287,285 | 20,803,494 | Edward Black, president and CEO | 980,000 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | Cannot disclose |
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility | 2003 | 242,060 | 150,928 | Susan Evoy, managing director | 34,650 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | Individual donors |
Computing Technology Industry Association | 2003 | 46,501,495 | 59,647,312 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Consumer Alert | 2004 | 217,089 | 37,190 | Frances Smith, executive director | 55,000 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | No response |
Consumer Electronics Association | 2004 | 48,332,062 | 81,411,442 | Gary Shapiro, president and CEO | 522,803 | Dan Deignan, treasurer | 210,774 | Jerry Kalov, industry executive advisor | 75,000 | Majority of revenue comes from trade shows |
Council on Competitiveness | 2004 | 2,508,595 | 447,845 | Deborah Wince-Smith, president | 211,037 | Debra Van Opstal, secretary | 132,632 | Mohamed Khan, director of information technology | 98,961 | No response |
Electronic Frontier Foundation | 2003 | 2,068,549 | 954,499 | Shari Steele, executive director | 135,000 | Cindy Cohn, legal director | 111,858 | Lee Tien, senior staff attorney | 83,893 | MacArthur Foundation, Parker Family Foundation, Google, Red Hat |
Electronic Privacy Information Center | 2004 | 1,112,989 | 1,602,058 | Marc Rotenberg, president | 97,400 | David Sobel, general counsel | 91,200 | n/a | n/a | EarthLink, Ford Foundation, Open Society Institute, Red Hat, Sun Microsystems |
Entertainment Software Association | 2004 | 18,335,764 | 21,371,509 | Douglas Lowenstein, president | 620,250 | Patricia Vance, ratings board president | 361,563 | Gail Markels, senior vice president and general counsel | 310,500 | Cannot disclose |
Foresight Nanotech Institute | 2003 | 536,675 | 509,677 | Christine Peterson, president | 67,500 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | The Waitt Family Foundation |
Free Software Foundation | 2004 | 860,328 | 833,128 | Bradley Kuhn, executive director | 59,319 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | Individual donors |
The Heritage Foundation | 2003 | 31,522,575 | 128,754,007 | Edwin Feulner, Jr., president and CEO | 280,776 | Phillip Truluck, executive vice president | 181,434 | Stuart Butler, vice president | 143,908 | Pfizer, Altria Group, Boeing, Chevron Texaco, Bristol-Myers Squibb, General Motors, Ford Motor, various individual donors. |
Information Technology Industry Council | 2004 | 5,558,681 | 4,085,890 | Rhett Dawson, president | 412,310 | Ralph Hellman, senior vice president | 274,654 | Joshua Ackil, vice president | 131,269 | No response |
Internet Content Rating Association | 2003 | 820,019 | 363,865 | Stephen Balkam, CEO | 119,622 | Mary Lou Kenny, North America director | 102,700 | n/a | n/a | Verizon Foundation |
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers | 2003 | 7,045,712 | 4,911,369 | Stuart Lynn, president and CEO | 257,139 | Paul Twomey, president and CEO | 169,881 | Teresa Swinehart, attorney | 137,583 | n/a |
Internet Society | 2002 | 2,964,767 | 5,026,664 | Lynn St. Amour, president and CEO | 224,059 | Martin Kupres, manager | 95,638 | Lynn Duval, finance director | 95,638 | n/a |
Motion Picture Association of America | 2003 | 51,533,640 | 37,818,824 | Jack Valenti, president and CEO | 1,473,997 | Simon Varsky, executive vice president | 380,351 | William Murray, executive vice president | 379,559 | Walt Disney, Sony Pictures, MGM, Paramount Pictures, Fox Filmed Entertainment, Universal Studios, Warner Bros. |
National Institute on Media and the Family | 2003 | 351,193 | 220,641 | David Walsh, president | 115,267 | Beth Zeilinger, staff | 61,443 | Douglas Gentile, researcher | 47,708 | McKnight Foundation, USA Values-Character Development Program, Dubbs & Omeara, CaDan |
National Law Center for Children and Families | 2004 | 417,115 | 234,376 | Bruce Taylor, president | 110,871 | Carol Santi, senior counsel | 56,234 | n/a | n/a | Not available |
National Venture Capital Association | 2003 | 5,386,735 | 6,612,935 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Online Policy Group | 2002 | 44,621 | 34,229 | No paid employees | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | Individual donors |
Open Source Applications Foundation | 2003 | 9,843,765 | 6,818,399 | John Anderson, software architect | 164,975 | Morgan Sagen, software architect | 139,628 | Kathryn Parlante, software architect | 124,625 | n/a |
Open Source Initiative | 2002 | n/a | 19,956 | no paid employees | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | Individual donors |
Privacy Foundation | 2003 | 197,186 | 156,636 | Stephen Keating, executive director | 54,992 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | No real funders; affiliated with the University of Denver |
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse | 2004 | 541,399 | 245,462 | Michael Shames, executive director | 75,482 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | Rose Foundation Privacy Rights Fund, California Consumer Protection Foundation, Amazon.com, Consumer Federation of America, private donors, settlement funds |
Progress & Freedom Foundation | 2004 | 3,128,646 | 934,776 | Raymond Gifford, president | 235,000 | Thomas Lenard, senior fellow and vice president | 213,000 | Garland McCoy, treasurer | 195,000 | Cannot disclose |
Public Knowledge | 2004 | 684,213 | n/a | Gigi Sohn, president | 122,800 | John Mitchell, director | 55,681 | n/a | n/a | John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation |
Recording Industry Association of America | 2003 | 46,386,219 | 27,665,291 | Cary Sherman, president | 1,005,000 | Mitch Bainwol, CEO | 844,231 | n/a | n/a | Membership dues from record labels |
Telecommunications Industry Association | 2003 | 26,488,964 | 14,637,788 | Matthew Flanigan, president | 613,504 | Anna Amselle, vice president for finance | 112,750 | n/a | n/a | Membership dues (companies include 3M, Apple Computer, Canon, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Nokia, Verizon Wireless) |
Truste | 2003 | 2,673,661 | 713,166 | Fran Maier, executive director | 222,047 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | Time Warner, DoubleClick, Intuit, Microsoft |
VON Coalition | 2004 | 68,610 | 55,819 | No paid employees | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | Intel, Microsoft, AT&T, T-Mobile, Cisco Systems, Covad Communications, EarthLink, MCI, Level 3 Communications, Skype Technologies |
Source: Form 990s filed with the Internal Revenue Service by each organization
[object Object]