Defending Education

  • Arlington, VA
  • Tax exemption issued: July 2021
  • EIN: 86-1596460

Organization summary

Type of Nonprofit

Designated as a 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: Civil Rights, Social Action, Advocacy / Civil Rights, Advocacy for Specific Groups (NTEE)

Donations to this organization are tax deductible.

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. Duplicate download links may indicate a resubmission or amendment to this organization's original return. Organizations with gross receipts of less than $50,000 can file the form 990-N postcard filing, which doesn’t include financial details. All Form 990 data is from the IRS.

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2025

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990
Revenue
$6,635,388
Expenses
$6,279,870
Net Income
$355,518
Net Assets
$1,055,398
Notable Sources of Revenue Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions $6,578,037
99.1%
Program Services $0
Investment Income $0
Bond Proceeds $0
Royalties $0
Rental Property Income $0
Net Fundraising $0
Sales of Assets $0
Net Inventory Sales $0
Other Revenue $57,351
0.9%
Notable Expenses Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation $1,277,081
20.3%
Professional Fundraising Fees $0
Other Salaries and Wages $890,893
14.2%
Assets/Debt
Total Assets $1,288,901
Total Liabilities $233,503
Net Assets $1,055,398
Compensation
Key Employees and Officers Compensation Related Other
Nicole Neily (President Secretary) $390,000 $0 $11,700
Sarah Perry (Vp And Legal Fellow) $175,128 $0 $0
Marissa Fallon (Director Of Advocacy) $154,000 $0 $4,620
Paul Runko (Sr Dir Of Strategic) $153,000 $0 $0
Erika Sanzi (Sr Dir Communication) $150,000 $0 $0
Andrew Kozusko (Director Development) $145,000 $0 $4,350
Philip Willard (Cfocoo) $36,779 $0 $0
Kenneth Marcus (Treasurer) $0 $0 $0
Karol Markowicz (Trustee) $0 $0 $0
Edward Blum (Trustee) $0 $0 $0
Garrett Exner (Trustee) $0 $0 $0
Mary Hasson (Trustee) $0 $0 $0
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Document Links

990
Filed on Aug. 3, 2026

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

View Filing
XML

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2024

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990
Revenue
$5,331,408
Expenses
$4,971,032
Net Income
$360,376
Net Assets
$699,880
Notable Sources of Revenue Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions $5,159,340
96.8%
Program Services $0
Investment Income $0
Bond Proceeds $0
Royalties $0
Rental Property Income $0
Net Fundraising $0
Sales of Assets $0
Net Inventory Sales $0
Other Revenue $172,068
3.2%
Notable Expenses Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation $533,250
10.7%
Professional Fundraising Fees $72,000
1.4%
Other Salaries and Wages $1,255,359
25.3%
Assets/Debt
Total Assets $980,016
Total Liabilities $280,136
Net Assets $699,880
Compensation
Key Employees and Officers Compensation Related Other
Nicole Neily (President Secretary) $349,583 $0 $8,988
Michele Exner (Senior Advisor) $197,583 $0 $6,000
Caroline Moore (Vice President) $184,667 $0 $13,371
Marissa Fallon (Director Of Advocacy) $149,250 $0 $14,376
Erika Sanzi (Director Outreach) $142,583 $0 $0
Andrew Kozusko (Director Development) $109,583 $0 $11,029
Kenneth Marcus (Treasurer) $0 $0 $0
Karol Markowicz (Trustee) $0 $0 $0
Edward Blum (Trustee) $0 $0 $0
Garrett Exner (Trustee) $0 $0 $0
Mary Hasson (Trustee) $0 $0 $0
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Document Links

990
Filed on Oct. 10, 2025

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

View Filing
PDF XML

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2023

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990
Revenue
$5,098,994
Expenses
$4,851,685
Net Income
$247,309
Net Assets
$339,504
Notable Sources of Revenue Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions $4,902,031
96.1%
Program Services $0
Investment Income $0
Bond Proceeds $0
Royalties $0
Rental Property Income $0
Net Fundraising $0
Sales of Assets $0
Net Inventory Sales $0
Other Revenue $196,963
3.9%
Notable Expenses Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation $498,935
10.3%
Professional Fundraising Fees $212,780
4.4%
Other Salaries and Wages $1,098,388
22.6%
Assets/Debt
Total Assets $1,204,628
Total Liabilities $865,124
Net Assets $339,504
Compensation
Key Employees and Officers Compensation Related Other
Nicole Neily (President Secretary) $332,750 $0 $8,650
Caroline Moore (Vice President) $166,186 $0 $4,986
Marissa Fallon (Director Of Advocacy) $145,093 $0 $4,053
Erika Sanzi (Director Outreach) $134,792 $0 $0
Alexis Nestor (Investigative Fellow) $104,583 $0 $2,838
Kenneth Marcus (Treasurer) $0 $0 $0
Karol Marcowicz (Trustee) $0 $0 $0
Edward Blum (Trustee) $0 $0 $0
Garrett Exner (Trustee) $0 $0 $0
Mary Hasson (Trustee) $0 $0 $0
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990
Filed on Oct. 23, 2024

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

View Filing
PDF XML

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2022

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990
Revenue
$4,301,156
Expenses
$4,451,306
Net Income
-$150,150
Net Assets
$92,195
Notable Sources of Revenue Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions $4,257,440
99.0%
Program Services $0
Investment Income $0
Bond Proceeds $0
Royalties $0
Rental Property Income $0
Net Fundraising $0
Sales of Assets $0
Net Inventory Sales $0
Other Revenue $43,716
1.0%
Notable Expenses Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation $431,666
9.7%
Professional Fundraising Fees $334,453
7.5%
Other Salaries and Wages $703,272
15.8%
Assets/Debt
Total Assets $773,953
Total Liabilities $681,758
Net Assets $92,195
Compensation
Key Employees and Officers Compensation Related Other
Nicole Neily (President & Secretary) $295,000 $0 $7,500
Erika Sanzi (Director Of Outreach) $129,167 $0 $0
Kenneth Marcus (Treasurer) $0 $0 $0
Karol Marcowicz (Trustee) $0 $0 $0
Edward Blum (Trustee) $0 $0 $0
Garrett Exner (Trustee) $0 $0 $0
Mary Hasson (Trustee) $0 $0 $0
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Document Links

990
Filed on Nov. 15, 2023

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

View Filing
PDF XML

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2021

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990
Revenue
$3,178,345
Expenses
$2,936,000
Net Income
$242,345
Net Assets
$242,345
Notable Sources of Revenue Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions $3,178,272
100.0%
Program Services $0
Investment Income $0
Bond Proceeds $0
Royalties $0
Rental Property Income $0
Net Fundraising $0
Sales of Assets $0
Net Inventory Sales $0
Other Revenue $73
0.0%
Notable Expenses Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation $192,500
6.6%
Professional Fundraising Fees $380,867
13.0%
Other Salaries and Wages $336,291
11.5%
Assets/Debt
Total Assets $346,429
Total Liabilities $104,084
Net Assets $242,345
Compensation
Key Employees and Officers Compensation Related Other
Nicole Neily (President) $192,500 $0 $3,188
Asra Nomani Former (Vp For Strat) $109,178 $0 $8,879
Edward Blum (Secretary) $0 $0 $0
Ian Lindquist (Treasurer (p) $0 $0 $0
Kenneth Marcus (Treasurer (p) $0 $0 $0
Karol Markowicz (Board Member) $0 $0 $0
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Document Links

990
Filed on Nov. 15, 2022

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

View Filing
PDF XML

About This Data

What Is This Data?

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

The summary data contains financial information from tax returns processed by the IRS since the 2012 calendar years, as well as data extracted from digital filings. IRS summary data also includes limited older records. This data release includes only a subset of what can be found in the full Form 990s.

In addition to the raw summary data, we link to PDFs and digital copies of full Form 990 documents wherever possible. This consists of separate releases by the IRS of Form 990 documents processed by the agency, which we update regularly.

We also link to copies of audits for nonprofit organizations that spent $750,000 or more in federal grant money in a single fiscal year since 2016. These audits are copied from the Federal Audit Clearinghouse.

Which Organizations Are Here?

Most organizations that have been recognized as tax exempt by the IRS have to file the Form 990 every year, unless they make less than $200,000 in revenue and have less than $500,000 in assets, in which case they have to file the Form 990-EZ. Organizations making less than $50,000 don’t have to file either form but do have to let the IRS they’re still in business via a Form 990N "e-Postcard," which does not contain financial details. Churches are not required to file Form 990.

Nonprofit Explorer has organizations that are claiming tax exemption in any of the 27 subsections of the 501(c) section of the tax code. Taxable trusts and private foundations that are required to file a form 990PF are also included.

Types of Nonprofits

There are 27 nonprofit designations based on the numbered subsections of section 501(c) of the tax code. See the list »

Get the Data

For those interested in acquiring the original data from the source, here’s where our data comes from:

  • Raw filing data. Includes Employer Identification Numbers and summary financials as structured data.
  • Exempt Organization profiles. Includes organization names, addresses, etc. You can merge this with the raw filing data using EIN numbers.
  • Form 990 documents. Prior to 2017, these documents were obtained and processed by Public.Resource.org and ProPublica.
  • Form 990 documents as XML files. Includes complete filing data (financial details, names of officers, tax schedules, etc.) in machine-readable format. Only available for electronically filed documents. Electronic data released prior to October 2021 is also available through Amazon Web Services.
  • Audits. PDFs of single or program-specific audits for nonprofit organizations that spent $750,000 or more in federal grant money in a single fiscal year. Available for fiscal year 2015 and later.

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About Nonprofit Explorer

Nonprofit Explorer

Browse millions of annual returns filed by tax-exempt organizations with ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer. See details like executive compensation, revenue, expenses and more. Search for an organization or a person, or search the full text of filings.

By Andrea Suozzo, Alec Glassford, Ash Ngu and Brandon Roberts.

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E-file viewer adapted from IRS e-File Viewer by Ben Getson. Code for scraping audit documents adapated from Govwiki.

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