Sunlight Foundation

Washington, DC
Tax-exempt since June 2006
EIN: 20-3903427

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This organization is not listed in the IRS's most recent list of tax exempt organizations, but we have data associated with this Employer Identification Number.

Type of Nonprofit

Designated as a 501(c)(3) Organizations for any of the following purposes: religious, educational, charitable, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering national or international amateur sports competition (as long as it doesn't provide athletic facilities or equipment), or the prevention of cruelty to children or animals.

Category: Public, Society Benefit — Multipurpose and Other / Government and Public Administration (NTEE)

Revenue

$28k (2020)

Expenses

$488k (2020)

Total Assets

$0 (2020)

Total Liabilities

$0 (2020)

Source: Form 990 tax filings from 2011 to 2020

Tax Filings by Year

Form 990 is an information return that most organizations claiming federal tax-exempt status must file yearly with the IRS. Nonprofit Explorer has IRS digitized Form 990 data for filings processed in 2012 and later. If this organization filed an amended return, it may not be reflected below. Duplicate download links may indicate a resubmission or amendment to this organization's original return. Form 990 data is from the IRS.

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2020

Revenue

$28,043

Expenses

$487,746

Net Income

-$459,703

Net Assets

Notable Sources of Revenue		Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions	$35,750	> 100%
Program Services	$0
Investment Income	$0
Bond Proceeds	$0
Royalties	$0
Rental Property Income	$0
Net Fundraising	$0
Sales of Assets	-$7,707
Net Inventory Sales	$0
Other Revenue	$0

Notable Expenses		Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation	$128,633	26.4%
Professional Fundraising Fees	$0
Other Salaries and Wages	$182,181	37.4%

Assets/Debt
Total Assets	$0
Total Liabilities	$0
Net Assets	$0

Compensation

Key Employees and Officers	Compensation	Related	Other
John Wonderlich (Executive Di)	$128,633	$0	$3,859
Michael R Klein (Chairmain)	$0	$0	$0
Katherine Maher (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Craig Newmark (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Zoe Reiter (Director)	$0	$0	$0

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990

Filed on Nov. 12, 2021

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

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Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2019

Revenue

$840,704

Expenses

$1,495,491

Net Income

-$654,787

Net Assets

$934,694

Notable Sources of Revenue		Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions	$838,144	99.7%
Program Services	$0
Investment Income	$2,020	0.2%
Bond Proceeds	$0
Royalties	$0
Rental Property Income	$0
Net Fundraising	$0
Sales of Assets	$540	0.1%
Net Inventory Sales	$0
Other Revenue	$0

Notable Expenses		Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation	$183,890	12.3%
Professional Fundraising Fees	$0
Other Salaries and Wages	$624,241	41.7%

Assets/Debt
Total Assets	$968,101
Total Liabilities	$33,407
Net Assets	$934,694

Compensation

Key Employees and Officers	Compensation	Related	Other
John Wonderlich (Executive Di)	$183,891	$0	$12,815
Michael R Klein (Chairmain)	$0	$0	$0
Katherine Maher (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Craig Newmark (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Zoe Reiter (Director)	$0	$0	$0

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990

Filed on Nov. 13, 2020

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

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Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2018

Revenue

$2,167,889

Expenses

$1,377,990

Net Income

$789,899

Net Assets

$1,589,481

Notable Sources of Revenue		Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions	$2,111,493	97.4%
Program Services	$0
Investment Income	$1,760	0.1%
Bond Proceeds	$0
Royalties	$55,064	2.5%
Rental Property Income	$0
Net Fundraising	$0
Sales of Assets	-$433
Net Inventory Sales	$0
Other Revenue	$5	0.0%

Notable Expenses		Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation	$180,286	13.1%
Professional Fundraising Fees	$0
Other Salaries and Wages	$588,072	42.7%

Assets/Debt
Total Assets	$1,652,910
Total Liabilities	$63,429
Net Assets	$1,589,481

Compensation

Key Employees and Officers	Compensation	Related	Other
John Wonderlich (Executive Di)	$180,285	$0	$16,985
Michael R Klein (Chairmain)	$0	$0	$0
Craig Newmark (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Katherine Maher (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Zoe Reiter (Director)	$0	$0	$0

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990

Filed on Oct. 30, 2019

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

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Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2017

Revenue

$507,104

Expenses

$1,451,359

Net Income

-$944,255

Net Assets

$799,582

Notable Sources of Revenue		Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions	$495,097	97.6%
Program Services	$0
Investment Income	$1,619	0.3%
Bond Proceeds	$0
Royalties	$116	0.0%
Rental Property Income	$0
Net Fundraising	$0
Sales of Assets	-$23,986
Net Inventory Sales	$0
Other Revenue	$34,258	6.8%

Notable Expenses		Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation	$176,751	12.2%
Professional Fundraising Fees	$0
Other Salaries and Wages	$617,374	42.5%

Assets/Debt
Total Assets	$845,015
Total Liabilities	$45,433
Net Assets	$799,582

Compensation

Key Employees and Officers	Compensation	Related	Other
John Wonderlich (Executive Di)	$176,750	$0	$10,332
Alex Howard (High Compens)	$140,000	$0	$0
Michael R Klein (Chairmain)	$0	$0	$0
Craig Newmark (Director)	$0	$0	$0

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990

Filed on Nov. 15, 2018

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

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Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2016

Revenue

$327,646

Expenses

$3,774,900

Net Income

-$3,447,254

Net Assets

$1,743,837

Notable Sources of Revenue		Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions	$358,681	> 100%
Program Services	$0
Investment Income	$2,086	0.6%
Bond Proceeds	$0
Royalties	$175	0.1%
Rental Property Income	$0
Net Fundraising	$0
Sales of Assets	-$50,000
Net Inventory Sales	$0
Other Revenue	$16,704	5.1%

Notable Expenses		Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation	$0
Professional Fundraising Fees	$0
Other Salaries and Wages	$1,686,461	44.7%

Assets/Debt
Total Assets	$1,829,144
Total Liabilities	$85,307
Net Assets	$1,743,837

Compensation

Key Employees and Officers	Compensation	Related	Other
John Wonderlich (Executive Di)	$175,000	$0	$9,809
Kathleen K Duffy (Labs Directo)	$127,703	$0	$18,000
William S Wells (Operations D)	$113,431	$0	$21,518
Jenn Topper (Communicatio)	$102,883	$0	$13,848
Michael R Klein (Chairmain)	$0	$0	$0
Nicholas J Klein (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Craig Newmark (Director)	$0	$0	$0

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990

Filed on Nov. 14, 2017

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

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Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2015

Revenue

$4,981,802

Expenses

$4,509,670

Net Income

$472,132

Net Assets

$5,191,092

Notable Sources of Revenue		Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions	$4,940,631	99.2%
Program Services	$0
Investment Income	$1,925	0.0%
Bond Proceeds	$0
Royalties	$228	0.0%
Rental Property Income	$0
Net Fundraising	$0
Sales of Assets	$0
Net Inventory Sales	$0
Other Revenue	$39,018	0.8%

Notable Expenses		Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation	$299,083	6.6%
Professional Fundraising Fees	$0
Other Salaries and Wages	$2,468,116	54.7%

Assets/Debt
Total Assets	$5,322,382
Total Liabilities	$131,290
Net Assets	$5,191,092

Compensation

Key Employees and Officers	Compensation	Related	Other
Chris Gates (President)	$299,083	$0	$24,000
John Wonderlich (Policy Direc)	$124,293	$0	$3,617
William S Wells (Operations D)	$113,470	$0	$15,686
Michael R Klein (Chair)	$0	$0	$0
Nicholas J Klein (Treasurer)	$0	$0	$0
Andrew Mclaughin (Secretary)	$0	$0	$0
Esther Dyson (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Allison Fine (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Craig Newmark (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Sue Gardner (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Mark Horvit (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Daniel X O'neil (Director)	$0	$0	$0

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990

Filed on Nov. 14, 2016

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

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Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2014

Revenue

$4,156,761

Expenses

$6,580,192

Net Income

-$2,423,431

Net Assets

$4,718,960

Notable Sources of Revenue		Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions	$4,130,213	99.4%
Program Services	$0
Investment Income	$1,902	0.0%
Bond Proceeds	$0
Royalties	$547	0.0%
Rental Property Income	$0
Net Fundraising	$0
Sales of Assets	$0
Net Inventory Sales	$0
Other Revenue	$24,099	0.6%

Notable Expenses		Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation	$248,926	3.8%
Professional Fundraising Fees	$0
Other Salaries and Wages	$3,409,705	51.8%

Assets/Debt
Total Assets	$4,876,405
Total Liabilities	$157,445
Net Assets	$4,718,960

Compensation

Key Employees and Officers	Compensation	Related	Other
Ellen Miller (Exec. Dir/Se)	$251,172	$0	$8,275
William Allison (Editorial Di)	$155,995	$0	$11,901
Christopher Mccleary (Development)	$155,695	$0	$15,233
Kathy Kiely (Managing Edi)	$132,276	$0	$10,262
John Wonderlich (Policy Direc)	$121,899	$0	$9,377
Michael R Klein (Chair)	$0	$0	$0
Nicholas J Klein (Treasurer)	$0	$0	$0
Andrew Mclaughin (Secretary)	$0	$0	$0
Esther Dyson (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Craig Newmark (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Stacy Donohue (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Allison Fine (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Sue Gardner (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Max Horvit (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Daniel X O'neil (Director)	$0	$0	$0

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990

Filed on Nov. 16, 2015

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

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Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2013

Revenue

$8,942,875

Expenses

$6,971,567

Net Income

$1,971,308

Net Assets

$7,142,391

Notable Sources of Revenue		Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions	$8,925,077	99.8%
Program Services	$0
Investment Income	$1,047	0.0%
Bond Proceeds	$0
Royalties	$0
Rental Property Income	$0
Net Fundraising	$0
Sales of Assets	$0
Net Inventory Sales	$0
Other Revenue	$16,751	0.2%

Notable Expenses		Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation	$292,195	4.2%
Professional Fundraising Fees	$0
Other Salaries and Wages	$3,488,215	50.0%

Assets/Debt
Total Assets	$7,469,706
Total Liabilities	$327,315
Net Assets	$7,142,391

Compensation

Key Employees and Officers	Compensation	Related	Other
Ellen Miller (Exec. Dir/Sec./Treasurer.)	$275,768	$0	$16,427
William Allison (Editorial Director)	$151,736	$0	$12,800
Thomas Lee (Director Sunlight Labs)	$129,771	$0	$11,891
Christopher Mccleary (Development Director)	$129,758	$0	$13,465
Kathy Kiely (Managing Editor)	$128,030	$0	$11,311
Gabriela Schneider (Communications Director)	$114,344	$0	$11,266
Michael R Klein (Chairman)	$0	$0	$0
Nicholas J Klein (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Esther Dyson (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Craig Newmark (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Stacy Donohue (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Andrew Mclaughlin (Director)	$0	$0	$0

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990

Filed on Nov. 17, 2014

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

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Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2012

Revenue

$7,912,829

Expenses

$7,521,833

Net Income

$390,996

Net Assets

$5,171,083

Notable Sources of Revenue		Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions	$7,899,688	99.8%
Program Services	$0
Investment Income	$2,941	0.0%
Bond Proceeds	$0
Royalties	$0
Rental Property Income	$0
Net Fundraising	$0
Sales of Assets	$0
Net Inventory Sales	$0
Other Revenue	$10,200	0.1%

Notable Expenses		Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation	$284,906	3.8%
Professional Fundraising Fees	$0
Other Salaries and Wages	$3,435,792	45.7%

Assets/Debt
Total Assets	$5,553,145
Total Liabilities	$382,062
Net Assets	$5,171,083

990

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

PDF

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2011

Revenue

$6,192,809

Expenses

$6,234,025

Net Income

-$41,216

Net Assets

$4,780,087

Notable Sources of Revenue		Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions	$6,186,357	99.9%
Program Services	$0
Investment Income	$2,132	0.0%
Bond Proceeds	$0
Royalties	$0
Rental Property Income	$0
Net Fundraising	$0
Sales of Assets	$0
Net Inventory Sales	$0
Other Revenue	$4,320	0.1%

Notable Expenses		Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation	$273,415	4.4%
Professional Fundraising Fees	$0
Other Salaries and Wages	$2,907,891	46.6%

Assets/Debt
Total Assets	$5,087,400
Total Liabilities	$307,313
Net Assets	$4,780,087

Nonprofit Explorer includes summary data for nonprofit tax returns and full Form 990 documents, in both PDF and digital formats.

The summary data contains information processed by the IRS during the 2012-2019 calendar years; this generally consists of filings for the 2011-2018 fiscal years, but may include older records. This data release includes only a subset of what can be found in the full Form 990s.

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Types of Nonprofits

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Updated December 22, 2025

Sunlight Foundation

Organization summary

Organization summary might be incomplete or out of date

Type of Nonprofit

Summary charts: organization finances over time

Revenue $28k (2020)

Expenses $488k (2020)

Total Assets $0 (2020)

Total Liabilities $0 (2020)

Tax Filings by Year

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2020

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990

Compensation

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2019

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990

Compensation

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2018

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990

Compensation

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2017

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990

Compensation

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2016

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990

Compensation

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2015

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990

Compensation

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2014

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990

Compensation

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2013

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990

Compensation

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2012

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2011

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2010

No Extracted Financial Data

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2009

No Extracted Financial Data

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2008

No Extracted Financial Data

Document Links

990

Revenue

$28k (2020)

Expenses

$488k (2020)

Total Assets

$0 (2020)

Total Liabilities

$0 (2020)

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2020

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2019

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2018

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2017

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2016

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2015

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2014

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2013

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2012

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2011

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2010

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2009

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2008

Fiscal Year Ending Oct.
2008

Fiscal Year Ending Oct.
2007

Fiscal Year Ending Oct.
2006