Form 990 for tax year 2024
Filed by DEFENDING RIGHTS AND DISSENT INC.
Totals
- Total revenue
- $2,946,164
- Total expenses
- $1,581,739
- Contributions and grants received
- $2,853,222
- Grants paid
- $51,346
- Program service revenue
- $0
- Investment income
- $77,140
- Other revenue
- $15,802
- Total assets, end of year
- $3,393,878
- Total liabilities, end of year
- $78,698
- Net assets or fund balances, end of year
- $3,315,180
- Program services expenses (Part IX)
- $1,285,238
- Management and general expenses
- $198,997
- Fundraising expenses
- $97,504
- Program service expenses (Part III)
- $1,285,238
Program services were 81.3% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.
Line items
Every line the filer filed in Parts VIII, IX and X, as filed and in filed order. Blank columns are left out, and the lines are not forced to add up to the totals above.
Revenue
Part VIII, the statement of revenue.
-
1f · All other contributions, gifts and grants
$2,853,222
-
3 · Investment income
total $43,516 · excluded $43,516
-
4 · Income from investment of tax-exempt bond proceeds
total $0
-
5 · Royalties
total $0
-
6d · Net rental income or loss
total $0
-
7a · Gross sales of assets other than inventory
securities $33,624
-
7c · Gain or loss
securities $33,624
-
7d · Net gain or loss
total $33,624 · related or exempt $33,624
-
8c · Net income from fundraising events
total $0
-
9c · Net income from gaming
total $0
-
10c · Net income from sales of inventory
total $0
-
11a · Other revenue: Honoraria fees
total $11,165 · excluded $11,165
-
11b · Other revenue: Miscellaneous
total $1,426 · excluded $1,426
-
11c · Other revenue: Other fees
total $3,211 · excluded $3,211
-
11e · Other revenue, total
$15,802
Functional expenses
Part IX, the statement of functional expenses.
-
1 · Grants to domestic organizations and governments
total $18,546 · program services $18,546
-
2 · Grants to domestic individuals
total $32,800 · program services $32,800
-
3 · Grants to foreign organizations and individuals
total $0
-
4 · Benefits paid to or for members
total $0
-
5 · Compensation of officers, directors and key employees
total $142,673 · program services $115,793 · management and general $15,709 · fundraising $11,171
-
6 · Compensation of disqualified persons
total $0
-
7 · Other salaries and wages
total $699,654 · program services $567,853 · management and general $77,035 · fundraising $54,766
-
8 · Pension plan contributions
total $0
-
9 · Other employee benefits
total $50,842 · program services $36,882 · management and general $10,741 · fundraising $3,219
-
10 · Payroll taxes
total $54,975 · program services $44,338 · management and general $6,165 · fundraising $4,472
-
11a · Fees: management
total $0
-
11b · Fees: legal
total $0
-
11c · Fees: accounting
total $16,820 · program services $286 · management and general $16,534
-
11d · Fees: lobbying
total $0
-
11e · Fees: professional fundraising services
total $3,000 · fundraising $3,000
-
11f · Fees: investment management
total $0
-
11g · Fees: other
total $215,491 · program services $186,436 · management and general $22,455 · fundraising $6,600
-
12 · Advertising and promotion
total $125 · management and general $125
-
13 · Office expenses
total $6,497 · program services $444 · management and general $5,394 · fundraising $659
-
14 · Information technology
total $864 · program services $847 · management and general $17
-
15 · Royalties
total $0
-
16 · Occupancy
total $33,889 · program services $12,266 · management and general $12,946 · fundraising $8,677
-
17 · Travel
total $186,020 · program services $182,962 · management and general $2,673 · fundraising $385
-
18 · Travel or entertainment for public officials
total $0
-
19 · Conferences, conventions and meetings
total $15,187 · program services $4,495 · management and general $10,692
-
20 · Interest
total $0
-
21 · Payments to affiliates
total $0
-
22 · Depreciation, depletion and amortization
total $783 · management and general $783
-
23 · Insurance
total $5,000 · management and general $5,000
-
24a · Other expenses: Books, subscriptions and refer
total $51,595 · program services $36,050 · management and general $11,644 · fundraising $3,901
-
24b · Other expenses: Program supplies and expenses
total $26,850 · program services $25,709 · management and general $1,084 · fundraising $57
-
24c · Other expenses: Printing and Publications
total $20,128 · program services $19,531 · fundraising $597
-
24e · All other expenses
total $0
Balance sheet
Part X, book values.
-
1 · Cash, non-interest-bearing
beginning of year $763,541 · end of year $894,455
-
2 · Savings and temporary cash investments
beginning of year $357,012 · end of year $713,916
-
3 · Pledges and grants receivable
end of year $1,070,000
-
4 · Accounts receivable
beginning of year $15,000 · end of year $1,000
-
5 · Loans and receivables from officers and key people
end of year $0
-
6 · Loans and receivables from disqualified persons
end of year $0
-
7 · Other notes and loans receivable
end of year $0
-
8 · Inventories for sale or use
end of year $0
-
9 · Prepaid expenses and deferred charges
beginning of year $23,190 · end of year $15,289
-
10a · Land, buildings and equipment: cost or other basis
$4,760
-
10b · Land, buildings and equipment: accumulated depreciation
$4,760
-
10c · Land, buildings and equipment, net
beginning of year $783 · end of year $0
-
11 · Investments: publicly traded securities
beginning of year $760,115 · end of year $696,938
-
12 · Investments: other securities
end of year $0
-
13 · Investments: program-related
end of year $0
-
14 · Intangible assets
end of year $0
-
15 · Other assets
end of year $2,280
-
17 · Accounts payable and accrued expenses
beginning of year $25,597 · end of year $78,698
-
27 · Net assets without donor restrictions
beginning of year $1,123,165 · end of year $748,782
-
28 · Net assets with donor restrictions
beginning of year $770,879 · end of year $2,566,398
Mission and programs · 2024
Mission
Defending Rights & Dissent strengthens our participatory democracy by protecting the right to political expression
Activities or mission (Part I)
EMPOWER COMMUNITIES AND EDUCATE THE GENERAL PUBLIC ON CIVIL RIGHTS AND LIBERTY VIA PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS, GATHERINGS AND SHARING OF RESOURCES TO FULFILL THE PROMISE OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS
-
Empowering people to reclaim their right to know and freedom to act by making their voices heard by key decision makers and engaging in extensive public education through research materials, reports and public affairs programming that alert the American people to curtailments of fundamental rights, particularly in the Muslim community
Expenses $1,285,238 · Grants $51,346 · Revenue $15,802
As filed on the 2024 return.
Listed in Part VII
-
Darakshan Raja
Director, MJF Proj
- Total calculated
- $153,281
- From this org
- $145,047
- From related orgs
- $0
- Other
- $8,234
- Hours/week
- 40
Schedule J breakdown matched by us
- Base
- $145,047
- Bonus
- not reported
- Other
- not reported
- Deferred
- not reported
- Nontaxable benefits
- $8,234
- Filer's total
- $153,281
-
Susan Udry
Executive Dir.
- Total calculated
- $142,673
- From this org
- $123,726
- From related orgs
- $0
- Other
- $18,947
- Hours/week
- 40
-
Charles Gibbons
Policy Director
- Total calculated
- $122,557
- From this org
- $114,457
- From related orgs
- $0
- Other
- $8,100
- Hours/week
- 40
-
Shannon Al-Wakeel
Director
- Total calculated
- $0
- Hours/week
- 1
-
Shahid Buttar
Director
- Total calculated
- $0
- Hours/week
- 1
-
Arun Gupta
Director
- Total calculated
- $0
- Hours/week
- 1
-
Jeffrey Sterling
Director
- Total calculated
- $0
- Hours/week
- 1
-
Sascha Meinrath
President
- Total calculated
- $0
- Hours/week
- 2
-
Jilisa Milton
Secretary
- Total calculated
- $0
- Hours/week
- 2
-
Donald Goldhamer
Treasurer
- Total calculated
- $0
- Hours/week
- 2
-
Mike Rufo
Vice President
- Total calculated
- $0
- Hours/week
- 1
-
Fadi Saba
Vice President
- Total calculated
- $0
- Hours/week
- 1
-
Emily Berman
Vice President
- Total calculated
- $0
- Hours/week
- 1
Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. A Schedule J breakdown is as filed: base pay, bonus, other, deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits from this organization, with any from related organizations beside each, and the filer's own total. It is shown with the Part VII listing of the same name on the same return. The form gives no key between the two, so that pairing is ours, and is marked matched by us.
Schedule J
Answered yes
- 3 · Approval by the board or compensation committee
Answered no
- 4a · Severance or change-of-control payment
- 4b · Supplemental nonqualified retirement plan
- 4c · Equity-based compensation arrangement
- 5a · Pay contingent on this organization's revenues
- 5b · Pay contingent on a related organization's revenues
- 6a · Pay contingent on this organization's net earnings
- 6b · Pay contingent on a related organization's net earnings
- 7 · Other non-fixed payments
- 8 · Paid under the initial-contract exception
Part I's answers as filed. A line not listed was left unanswered; on lines 1a and 3 that means the box was not checked.
Grants on this return
-
DC Alliance against Racist an
$15,000
police accountability in DC
Provenance
- Return type
- form_990
- Tax year
- 2024
- Filed
- 23 April 2026
- IRS schema version
- 2024v5.2
- Source object
- 202611139349301431
Check it against the return as filed: the GivingTuesday Data Lake hosts a public copy of the original XML.
The source document this was parsed from is served over the API, which is where bulk and document access live.