How Revenue is Spent at the Heritage Foundation (2024)

The Heritage Foundation (Heritage) is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization staffed by conservative “experts” who provide advice on political, economic, social, and financial problems in the United States. Based in Washington, DC Heritage raises about $100 million annually, spends less than they raise and therefore has about $330 million in net fund assets.  Specifically, Heritage is well known for publishing Project 2025 – a controversial “roadmap for how to replace the rule of law with right-wing ideals” according to the ACLU.

There are 16 voting members of the governing body, 15 of whom are independent although 19 are listed on the Form 990 due to timing differences, of which 15 (79%) are male while 4 (21%) are female.

In 2024, Heritage raised $134 million (compared to $101 million in 2023), most of which came from contributions, gifts, and grants. Expenses totaled $137 million (not including $5 million in depreciation) and can be viewed two ways:  by broad general category (program service, management and general, and fundraising) or by specific line item categories (i.e. compensation, office-related, travel and conferences, fees for services, etc). Both ways are beneficial with the latter approach providing more specific detail on how revenue was spent.

Expenses by Broad General Category

The $137 million in expenses (not including $5 million in depreciation) were categorized as follows:

• $113 million (84% of revenue):  Program Services
• $  5 million (4% of revenue):  Management and General
• $ 19 million (14% of revenue):  Fundraising

Using the above information, every $100 in revenue was spent as follows:

$100:  Revenue

-$ 84:  Program Services

-$ 14:  Fundraising

-$  4:  Management and General Expenses

-$102:  Total Expenses

-$  2:  Excess Expenses over Revenue

As illustrated above, $84 out of every $100 was spent on program services while $18 out of every $100 was spent on fundraising and management and general expenses.

Expenses by Specific Line Item Category

The $137 million (102% of revenue) in expenses were categorized as follows:

• $53 million (40% of revenue):  Compensation
• $24 million (18% of revenue):  Office-Related
• $30 million (22% of revenue):  Fees for Services
• $11 million (8% of revenue):  Travel and Conferences
• $ 8  million (6% of revenue):  Advertising and Promotion
• $ 9 million (7% of revenue):  Grants
• $ 2 million (1% of revenue):  Other Expenses

As illustrated above, the largest expense for Heritage is compensation ($53 million) for the organization’s 557 employees who received an average compensation of $95,000. 157 employees received more than $100,000 in compensation with the most highly compensated employee, Kevin Roberts, the President, receiving $961,972.

Office-related expenses were the second largest expense made up primarily of three expenses:  office-related ($14 million) with no detail provided, IT ($5 million), and occupancy ($5 million).

Fees for Services ($30 million) – nearly double compared to 2023 – were primarily fees paid to non-employees, $19 million of which is not detailed. $7 million was paid to lawyers and $2 million was paid to professional fundraisers while nearly $1 million was paid to investment managers., lobbyists, and accountants. It is important to point out that Heritage paid more than $100,000 to 59 organizations with the 5 most highly compensated organizations listed below:

• $9 million:  DPR Construction, of Redwood, CA for construction
• $2 million:  Associated Protective Services, of Rosemont, IL for protection and security
• $2 million:  MDS Communications, of Mesa, AZ for fundraising consulting
• $1 million:  Oracle America, of Redwood City, CA for IT Services
• $1 million:  Moore Response Management Group, of Hagerstown, MD for mailings

It is important to note, Heritage used outside sources for fundraising. These fundraisers raised $25 million, retained $3 million (12%), netting Heritage $22 million.

$11 million was spent on travel and conferences, including first class or charter travel and companion travel (see Form 990, Schedule J, Part III, Supplemental Information for more detail).

Using the above information, every $100 in revenue was spent as follows:

$100:  Revenue

-$ 40:  Compensation

-$ 18:  Office-related Expenses

-$ 22:  Fees for Services

-$  8:  Travel and Conferences

-$  7:  Grants

-$  1:  Other Expenses

-$  6:  Advertising and Promotion

-$102: Total Expenses

-$   2:  Excess Expenses over Revenue

As illustrated above, $68 out of every $100 in revenue was spent on compensation and office-related expenses. $22 out of every $100 was spent on compensating non-employees while $8 out of every $100 was spent on travel and conferences. $6 out of every $100 was spent on advertising while $7 was spent on grants (26 grants greater than $5,000 were made with the largest ($3.5 million) to an organization called the Daily Signal Institute (a leading conservative news website in Washington, DC) followed by $1 million to the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee and $1 million to 170 Freedom Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention.

Net assets at year-end were $334 million.

To read the IRS Form 990 (2024), click here.