{"boards":[{"slug":"top-paid","title":"Highest-paid people","subtitle":"The Corner Office","definition":"The largest total compensation reported for one person on one filing, per person per tax year.","formula":"Total = reportable pay from the organization + reportable pay from related organizations + other compensation (Form 990 Part VII; 990-EZ Part IV; 990-PF Part VIII). One row per person per tax year: their largest single filing. Floor $250,000. Institutions (banks acting as trustee, entries titled institutional or corporate trustee) and group-return placeholder rows excluded. Filings from organizations reporting at least $10,000,000 in revenue or $50,000,000 in total assets that year.","notes":["Pay from related organizations is reported on each related organization's filing too, so a person's figures can appear more than once across filings."],"coverage_window":"tax years 2008 to 2025, e-filed returns only","rows":950627,"refreshed_at":"2026-10-17T20:35:34.476948+00:00","url":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/top-paid","csv":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/top-paid.csv"},{"slug":"top-vendors","title":"Highest-paid vendors","subtitle":"Invoice Royalty","definition":"The largest payments to independent contractors, as listed by the paying organization.","formula":"Compensation to one contractor on one filing (Form 990 Part VII Section B; 990-PF Part VIII). Thresholds: $100,000 on the 990, $50,000 on the 990-PF (the forms' own reporting floors). Filings from organizations reporting at least $10,000,000 in revenue or $50,000,000 in total assets that year.","notes":["Each organization lists at most its top five, so this is a floor, not the full picture.","Related organizations can appear as contractors: a health plan paying its own hospitals, or a foundation paying its management company."],"coverage_window":"tax years 2008 to 2025, e-filed returns only","rows":1043616,"refreshed_at":"2026-10-17T15:53:48.882768+00:00","url":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/top-vendors","csv":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/top-vendors.csv"},{"slug":"dragon-hoard","title":"Cash reserves in years of spending","subtitle":"Dragon Hoard","definition":"How many years the organization could keep spending at this year's rate from what it holds.","formula":"Years = net assets at year end / total expenses for the year (total assets when net assets aren't reported). Organizations with expenses under $500,000 excluded. Filings from organizations reporting at least $10,000,000 in revenue or $50,000,000 in total assets that year.","notes":["Endowments, reserves for buildings and restricted gifts are often legitimate and sometimes required. Net assets include buildings and other things that aren't cash."],"coverage_window":"tax years 2008 to 2025, e-filed returns only","rows":376319,"refreshed_at":"2026-10-17T15:54:04.039355+00:00","url":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/dragon-hoard","csv":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/dragon-hoard.csv"},{"slug":"expensive-dollar","title":"Fundraising cost per dollar raised","subtitle":"The Most Expensive Dollar","definition":"What it cost to raise each dollar of contributions.","formula":"Cost = total fundraising expenses (Form 990 Part I line 16b, Part IX column D) / contributions, gifts and grants (Part VIII line 1h). Form 990 only; contributions of at least $500,000. Filings from organizations reporting at least $10,000,000 in revenue or $50,000,000 in total assets that year.","notes":["Special events, capital campaigns and first-year donor drives often cost more than they bring in the same year. Contributions include government grants, which cost little to raise. Some organizations raise money for a related organization, so the costs land on one return and the gifts on another."],"coverage_window":"tax years 2008 to 2025, e-filed returns only","rows":146059,"refreshed_at":"2026-10-17T15:54:09.071757+00:00","url":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/expensive-dollar","csv":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/expensive-dollar.csv"},{"slug":"small-org-big-check","title":"Highest single salary at organizations with under $1M revenue","subtitle":"Small Org, Big Check","definition":"The best-paid person at organizations that took in less than $1 million that year.","formula":"One row per filing: the person with the largest total pay (as on Highest-paid people) where total revenue was under $1,000,000. Institutions excluded. Filings from organizations reporting at least $10,000,000 in revenue or $50,000,000 in total assets that year (so these are asset-rich organizations with small revenue).","notes":["Revenue can be low in a year when investments lost value, and private foundations often pay staff from assets rather than revenue."],"coverage_window":"tax years 2008 to 2025, e-filed returns only","rows":2226,"refreshed_at":"2026-10-17T20:36:47.104349+00:00","url":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/small-org-big-check","csv":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/small-org-big-check.csv"},{"slug":"biggest-swings","title":"Biggest year-over-year jumps","subtitle":"Biggest Swings","definition":"Revenue or one person's pay at least ten times the year before.","formula":"Multiple = this year / prior year, for the same EIN in consecutive tax years. Revenue: prior year at least $50,000. Officer pay: the same normalized name at the same EIN (an EXACT match), prior year at least $50,000. Multiple of at least 10. Filings from organizations reporting at least $10,000,000 in revenue or $50,000,000 in total assets that year (in the later year).","notes":["Big one-time gifts, mergers, a first full year of operation, a partial prior year, and deferred pay paid out at retirement all produce large jumps."],"coverage_window":"tax years 2010 to 2025, e-filed returns only","rows":4590,"refreshed_at":"2026-10-17T20:38:06.095242+00:00","url":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/biggest-swings","csv":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/biggest-swings.csv"},{"slug":"phantom-staff","title":"Large revenue, one employee or none","subtitle":"Phantom Staff","definition":"Organizations with at least $5 million in revenue that report one employee or none.","formula":"Total revenue of at least $5,000,000 and total employees (Form 990 Part I line 5) of 0 or 1. Form 990 only. Filings from organizations reporting at least $10,000,000 in revenue or $50,000,000 in total assets that year.","notes":["Pass-through and supporting organizations, donor-advised funds, and groups staffed by a related organization or a management company often have no employees of their own."],"coverage_window":"tax years 2008 to 2025, e-filed returns only","rows":49391,"refreshed_at":"2026-10-17T15:57:07.765645+00:00","url":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/phantom-staff","csv":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/phantom-staff.csv"},{"slug":"lookalikes","title":"Organizations with nearly identical names","subtitle":"Lookalikes","definition":"Large organizations that share a name, or almost, with other organizations.","formula":"Trigram similarity of the two names (PostgreSQL pg_trgm) of at least 0.9, different EINs. One row per organization reporting $10,000,000 in revenue or $50,000,000 in assets on its latest e-filed return: its closest lookalike (the largest, when several are equally close) and how many it has. Latest filing shown.","notes":["Chapters, affiliates, foundations and their operating charities, and organizations in different states often share a name on purpose."],"coverage_window":"tax years 2008 to 2025, e-filed returns only","rows":3509,"refreshed_at":"2026-10-17T17:03:32.596244+00:00","url":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/lookalikes","csv":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/lookalikes.csv"},{"slug":"shared-vendors","title":"Vendors paid by many organizations","subtitle":"Everybody's Contractor","definition":"Contractors listed by 3 or more different organizations in the same tax year.","formula":"Count of distinct EINs listing the same normalized contractor name in one tax year (Form 990 Part VII Section B; 990-PF Part VIII), with the combined amount. Filings from organizations reporting at least $10,000,000 in revenue or $50,000,000 in total assets that year. The filing shown is the largest single payment.","notes":["Large law firms, auditors, hospital staffing companies and fundraising firms serve many clients. Different companies with the same name are counted together."],"coverage_window":"tax years 2009 to 2025, e-filed returns only","rows":43607,"refreshed_at":"2026-10-17T16:12:37.474676+00:00","url":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/shared-vendors","csv":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/shared-vendors.csv"},{"slug":"insider-loans","title":"Loans between organizations and insiders","subtitle":"In-House Lending","definition":"Loans to or from officers, directors, key employees and other interested persons, by balance due.","formula":"Schedule L Part II: one row per loan with a balance due at year end, as reported (direction, original principal, balance, default, board approval, written agreement). Form 990 only. Filings from organizations reporting at least $10,000,000 in revenue or $50,000,000 in total assets that year.","notes":["Housing and relocation loans to executives, payroll advances, and loans from a founder to keep the organization running are common. Schedule L lists the loan; it doesn't say whether it was a good idea."],"coverage_window":"tax years 2008 to 2025, e-filed returns only","rows":71747,"refreshed_at":"2026-10-17T18:14:47.325147+00:00","url":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/insider-loans","csv":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/insider-loans.csv"},{"slug":"hugging-the-floor","title":"Foundations paying out right at the legal minimum","subtitle":"Hugging the Floor","definition":"Private foundations whose qualifying distributions came to 5.0% to 5.2% of their investment assets for 5 or more years in a row.","formula":"Payout = qualifying distributions (990-PF Part XII line 4) / net value of noncharitable-use assets (Part X line 5). The minimum investment return is 5% of that line (Part X line 6). Longest run of consecutive tax years at 5.0% to 5.2%, at least 5. Filings from organizations reporting at least $10,000,000 in revenue or $50,000,000 in total assets that year.","notes":["Paying the 5% minimum is legal and common; many foundations plan to last forever and pay exactly what the law requires. The legal test also allows carryovers and a year's grace, so a single year's figure is not the whole story."],"coverage_window":"tax years 2017 to 2021, e-filed returns only","rows":3,"refreshed_at":"2026-10-17T18:14:52.508935+00:00","url":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/hugging-the-floor","csv":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/hugging-the-floor.csv"},{"slug":"funding-loops","title":"Largest grant went to an organization sharing a board member","subtitle":"Funding Loops","definition":"Grantmakers whose biggest grant of the year went to an organization where one of their own people also served that year.","formula":"Largest single grant on the filing (Schedule I Part II, or 990-PF grants paid) to an organization we can identify: by the EIN the grantor reported, or, on the 990-PF (which lists no EINs), by an exact, unique name and state. A person on the grantor's filing is linked to a person on the grantee's filing for the same tax year. EXACT: the same normalized name on both. FUZZY: linked records with different spellings. Filings from organizations reporting at least $10,000,000 in revenue or $50,000,000 in total assets that year.","notes":["Family foundations often fund charities their family members help run, and community foundations seat leaders from the groups they serve. Overlapping boards are disclosed on purpose. Linked records can join two people with the same name; check the evidence."],"coverage_window":"tax years 2009 to 2025, e-filed returns only","rows":28705,"refreshed_at":"2026-10-17T20:43:12.787464+00:00","url":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/funding-loops","csv":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/funding-loops.csv"},{"slug":"contractor-insiders","title":"Contractors at the organization's address or with an insider's name","subtitle":"Close to Home","definition":"Independent contractors listed at the paying organization's own address, or with the same name as a person on the same filing.","formula":"Contractor (Form 990 Part VII Section B; 990-PF Part VIII) whose street address matches the organization's (letters and digits only, same ZIP) or whose normalized name equals the name of an officer, director, trustee or key employee on the same filing. Filings from organizations reporting at least $10,000,000 in revenue or $50,000,000 in total assets that year.","notes":["Management companies, related organizations and shared-office arrangements commonly sit at the same address, and paying an officer's firm is allowed when it's disclosed and approved. A shared name can be a coincidence."],"coverage_window":"tax years 2008 to 2025, e-filed returns only","rows":12285,"refreshed_at":"2026-10-17T18:23:51.685754+00:00","url":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/contractor-insiders","csv":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/contractor-insiders.csv"},{"slug":"daf-sponsors","title":"Donor-advised fund sponsors, A to Z","subtitle":"Who Holds the Funds","definition":"Every organization whose returns say it maintains donor-advised funds, in alphabetical order, with its latest reported figures.","formula":"Organizations with a non-superseded Form 990 or 990-EZ answering yes to \"did the organization maintain any donor advised funds\" (Part IV line 6), or reporting donor-advised funds on Schedule D Part I. Figures are from the latest such return: number of funds, contributions, grants, and value at year end. All sizes, not only the launch scope.","notes":["Donors to individual donor-advised funds are not public. These filings show what the sponsor reports, not who gave.","Community foundations, national sponsors, universities and religious organizations all sponsor donor-advised funds. Some say yes to the question but leave Schedule D blank."],"coverage_window":"tax years 2009 to 2025, e-filed returns only","rows":6279,"refreshed_at":"2026-10-17T18:24:04.088123+00:00","url":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/daf-sponsors","csv":"https://strategystudio.org/boards/daf-sponsors.csv"}],"note":"Unusual is not the same as improper. Many of these patterns have ordinary explanations. Check the filing."}