$250 Million in Legal Fees at the NRA

The NRA has been embroiled in litigation for years with multiple legal charges and actions including corruption, tax fraud, mismanagement, bankruptcy, illegal campaign conduct, and other legal issues.  To defend against the charges (and other minor suits), the NRA used revenue (primarily membership dues and contributions) and relied on accumulated funds in the general fund to pay $250 million in legal fees over the past decade (although the bulk of the legal fees were paid between 2018-2023).

In trying to understand legal fees relative to total revenue and relative to membership dues, the following information was obtained from the IRS Form 990’s submitted by the NRA to the IRS:

Year     Legal Fees     Revenue     Legal Fees/Rev     Member Fees      Legal Fees/Member Fees

2023     $42 million     $176 million              24%                 $62 million               68%

2022     $40 million     $211 million              19%                 $83 million.              48%

2021     $36 million      $227 million.           16%                  $97 million                37%

2020    $41 million       $282 million            15%                  $120 million             33%

2019     $39 million      $291 million              13%                $113 million              35%

2018    $25 million       $353 million              7%.                $170 million              15%

2017     $ 7 million        $312 million.             2%                 $128 million               5%

2016:   $ 7 million       $367 million)             2%.                 $164 million               4%

2015:   $ 5 million       $337 million              2%                  $166 million               3%

2014:   $ 7 million       $310 million              2%                  $128 million               5%

Key points are summarized as follows:

• Legal dees were generally $5-$7 million, or 2% of revenue or 3-5% of membership dues  annually until 2018.
• From 2018-2023, legal fees ranged from $25 -$42 million (7-24% of revenue or 15-68% of membership dues), or a average of $37 million annually.
• Membership dues have declined by 50% since 2014 but have declined by 64% since the high in 2018. Membeships dues hit a low of $62 million in 2023, which suggests the NRA has lost half its members.
• Revenue has declined by 52% from the high of $367 million in 2016 to a low of $176 million in 2023

Most of the legal suits were settled in 2024, so expectations are that legal fees will also be high in 2024.