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Chart: Tax-exempt tech influence

Jobs at influential nonprofit organizations can pay well--sometimes even better than those at the companies they represent.

4 min read

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.

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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 Foundation200448,731,320216,743,385Steven Shapiro, legal director 166,036Linda Hills, director of affliliate support 156,696Emily Tynes, director of communication 156,696Cannot disclose
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research200324,934,54551,191,488Christopher DeMuth, president and trustee 535,000David Gerson, executive vice president 290,000Kevin Hassett, scholar 152,500Individual donors, foundations, corporations (not named in annual report)
American Library Association200445,338,47450,503,470Keith Fiels, executive director 193,628Mary Ghikas, senior associate executive director 156,917Gregory Calloway, associate executive director 139,235Membership dues, Verizon Communications, Walgreens
American Registry for Internet Numbers20048,635,82418,018,062Ray Plzak, president 179,400John Curran, temporary president 25,500n/an/an/a
The Apache Software Foundation20032,875112,187No paid employees n/an/a n/an/a n/aIndividual donors
Association for Competitive Technology20031,174,27536,203Jonathan Zuck, president 150,000n/a n/an/a n/aeBay, Microsoft, Oracle, Orbitz, VeriSign
The Brookings Institution200211,384,194227,650,396Strobe Talbott, president 332,138James Steinberg, director of foreign-policy studies 215,300Thomas Mann, senior fellow 191,500n/a
Business Software Alliance200342,144,80617,132,533Robert Holleyman, president 452,670Scott Van Hove, vice president of global operations 239,657n/a n/aCannot disclose
Cato Institute200412,975,70119,199,500Edward Crane, president and CEO 382,076David Boaz, executive vice president 185,000William Niskanen, chairman 142,000Comcast, FedEx, GM, Honda, Mazda, Microsoft, Mitsubishi, The Economist, Time Warner, Toyota, VeriSign, Verizon Communications, Volkswagen, Wal-Mart Stores
CTIA200411,964,93849,911,641Thomas Wheeler, president and CEO 882,111Steve Berry, senior vice president 314,906Michael Altschul, senior vice president and general counsel 278,494no reponse
Center for Democracy and Technology20042,792,8561,719,437Jerry Berman, president 223,111James Dempsey, executive director 132,511John Morris, director 110,605Time Warner, AT&T, EarthLink, eBay, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Verizon Communications, Yahoo
Center for Strategic and International Studies200422,951,01436,362,814John Hamre, president and CEO 375,000Kurt Campbell, senior vice president and director 182,115Robin Niblett, executive vice president and director 154,423U.S. government, foundations, corporations (not named in annual report)
Computer & Communications Industry Association200423,287,28520,803,494Edward Black, president and CEO 980,000n/an/an/an/aCannot disclose
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility2003242,060150,928Susan Evoy, managing director 34,650n/a n/an/a n/aIndividual donors
Computing Technology Industry Association200346,501,49559,647,312n/an/an/an/an/an/an/a
Consumer Alert2004217,08937,190Frances Smith, executive director 55,000n/a n/an/a n/aNo response
Consumer Electronics Association200448,332,06281,411,442Gary Shapiro, president and CEO 522,803Dan Deignan, treasurer 210,774Jerry Kalov, industry executive advisor 75,000Majority of revenue comes from trade shows
Council on Competitiveness20042,508,595447,845Deborah Wince-Smith, president 211,037Debra Van Opstal, secretary 132,632Mohamed Khan, director of information technology 98,961No response
Electronic Frontier Foundation20032,068,549954,499Shari Steele, executive director 135,000Cindy Cohn, legal director 111,858Lee Tien, senior staff attorney 83,893MacArthur Foundation, Parker Family Foundation, Google, Red Hat
Electronic Privacy Information Center20041,112,9891,602,058Marc Rotenberg, president 97,400David Sobel, general counsel 91,200n/a n/aEarthLink, Ford Foundation, Open Society Institute, Red Hat, Sun Microsystems
Entertainment Software Association200418,335,76421,371,509Douglas Lowenstein, president 620,250Patricia Vance, ratings board president 361,563Gail Markels, senior vice president and general counsel 310,500Cannot disclose
Foresight Nanotech Institute2003536,675509,677Christine Peterson, president 67,500n/a n/an/a n/aThe Waitt Family Foundation
Free Software Foundation2004860,328833,128Bradley Kuhn, executive director 59,319n/a n/an/a n/aIndividual donors
The Heritage Foundation200331,522,575128,754,007Edwin Feulner, Jr., president and CEO 280,776Phillip Truluck, executive vice president 181,434Stuart Butler, vice president 143,908Pfizer, Altria Group, Boeing, Chevron Texaco, Bristol-Myers Squibb, General Motors, Ford Motor, various individual donors.
Information Technology Industry Council20045,558,6814,085,890Rhett Dawson, president 412,310Ralph Hellman, senior vice president 274,654Joshua Ackil, vice president 131,269No response
Internet Content Rating Association2003820,019363,865Stephen Balkam, CEO 119,622Mary Lou Kenny, North America director 102,700n/a n/aVerizon Foundation
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers20037,045,7124,911,369Stuart Lynn, president and CEO 257,139Paul Twomey, president and CEO 169,881Teresa Swinehart, attorney 137,583n/a
Internet Society20022,964,7675,026,664Lynn St. Amour, president and CEO 224,059Martin Kupres, manager 95,638Lynn Duval, finance director 95,638n/a
Motion Picture Association of America200351,533,64037,818,824Jack Valenti, president and CEO 1,473,997Simon Varsky, executive vice president 380,351William Murray, executive vice president 379,559Walt Disney, Sony Pictures, MGM, Paramount Pictures, Fox Filmed Entertainment, Universal Studios, Warner Bros.
National Institute on Media and the Family2003351,193220,641David Walsh, president 115,267Beth Zeilinger, staff 61,443Douglas Gentile, researcher 47,708McKnight Foundation, USA Values-Character Development Program, Dubbs & Omeara, CaDan
National Law Center for Children and Families2004417,115234,376Bruce Taylor, president 110,871Carol Santi, senior counsel 56,234n/a n/aNot available
National Venture Capital Association20035,386,7356,612,935n/an/an/an/an/an/an/a
Online Policy Group200244,62134,229No paid employees n/an/a n/an/a n/aIndividual donors
Open Source Applications Foundation20039,843,7656,818,399John Anderson, software architect 164,975Morgan Sagen, software architect 139,628Kathryn Parlante, software architect 124,625n/a
Open Source Initiative2002n/a19,956no paid employees n/an/an/an/an/aIndividual donors
Privacy Foundation2003197,186156,636Stephen Keating, executive director 54,992n/a n/an/a n/aNo real funders; affiliated with the University of Denver
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse2004541,399245,462Michael Shames, executive director 75,482n/a n/an/a n/aRose Foundation Privacy Rights Fund, California Consumer Protection Foundation, Amazon.com, Consumer Federation of America, private donors, settlement funds
Progress & Freedom Foundation20043,128,646934,776Raymond Gifford, president 235,000Thomas Lenard, senior fellow and vice president 213,000Garland McCoy, treasurer 195,000Cannot disclose
Public Knowledge2004684,213n/aGigi Sohn, president 122,800John Mitchell, director 55,681n/an/aJohn D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation
Recording Industry Association of America200346,386,21927,665,291Cary Sherman, president 1,005,000Mitch Bainwol, CEO 844,231n/a n/aMembership dues from record labels
Telecommunications Industry Association200326,488,96414,637,788Matthew Flanigan, president 613,504Anna Amselle, vice president for finance 112,750n/a n/aMembership dues (companies include 3M, Apple Computer, Canon, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Nokia, Verizon Wireless)
Truste20032,673,661713,166Fran Maier, executive director 222,047n/a n/an/a n/aTime Warner, DoubleClick, Intuit, Microsoft
VON Coalition200468,61055,819No paid employees n/an/a n/an/a n/aIntel, 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
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