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ISTHMUS COMMUNITY MEDIA INC

EIN 85-2868484 MADISON, WI

Revenue 2024
$680,578
Expenses 2024
$656,024

Program services were 90.6% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

As filed

Subsection
03
NTEE code
A30
Classification
1000
Street
529 S RANDALL AVE

These codes are the IRS's own and are shown exactly as filed. What each one means is in the Business Master File documentation (opens in a new tab).

Mission and programs · 2024

Mission

ISTHMUS SERVES THE MADISON COMMUNITY BY PROVIDING INDEPENDENT TRUSTED LOCAL JOURNALISM. WE STRENGTHEN DEMOCRACY BY HELPING TO CREATE AN INFORMED CITIZENRY.

Activities or mission (Part I)

ISTHMUS COMMUNITY MEDIA SERVES THE MADISON COMMUNITY BY PROVIDING INDEPENDENT TRUSTED LOCAL JOURNALISM. WE STRENGTHEN DEMOCRACY BY HELPING TO CREATE AN INFORMED CITIZENRY.

  • WE PROVIDE FREE, ONLINE ACCESS TO LOCAL NEWS IN A MONTHLY PRINTED ISSUE OF ISTHMUS AND DAILY ON ISTHMUS.COM. WE MAINTAIN A COMPREHENSIVE COMMUNITY CALENDAR. WE POST CONTENT TO THREE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS, FACEBOOK, TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM. WE MONITOR AND OFFER A COMMENTING SYSTEM ON ARTICLES TO READERS. WE PROVIDE A PLATFORM FOR SPONSORSHIPS.

    Expenses $594,685

As filed on the 2024 return.

Officers and directors · 2024

As listed in Part VII of the 2024 return, in the order the filer printed them. Each return names its own; this is not a roster the organization keeps with us.

  • Jason Stephens

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

  • Kirsten Houghton

    TREASURER

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

  • Judith Davidoff

    PRESIDENT/EDITOR

    Total calculated
    $60,000
    From this org
    $60,000
    From related orgs
    $0
    Other
    $0
    Hours/week
    50

  • Dan Koehn

    VICE-PRESIDENT

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

  • Ralph Russo

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

  • Taylor Kilgore

    SECRETARY

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

  • Michael Wagner

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

  • Molly Stentz

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

  • Jill Pedigo Hall

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

  • Ted Dedee

    DIRECTOR

    Total calculated
    $0
    Hours/week
    2

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. Earlier years are each on their own filing page.

Filings

  • 2024
    Revenue
    $680,578
    Expenses
    $656,024
    Contributions
    $252,653
    Grants paid
    $0
  • 2023
    Revenue
    $663,159
    Expenses
    $655,558
    Contributions
    $283,661
    Grants paid
    $0
  • 2022
    Revenue
    $603,061
    Expenses
    $564,552
    Contributions
    $248,950
    Grants paid
    $0

The four totals the IRS asks for on Part I of the Form 990, as filed. A dash means the figure was not present on the return — not that it was zero.

Other returns filed

  • 2024 · 990-T

    Revenue
    not reported
    Expenses
    not reported
    Assets (EOY)
    not reported

  • 2023 · 990-T

    Revenue
    not reported
    Expenses
    not reported
    Assets (EOY)
    not reported

  • 2022 · 990-T

    Revenue
    not reported
    Expenses
    not reported
    Assets (EOY)
    not reported

  • 2021 · 990

    Revenue
    $389,489
    Expenses
    $329,005
    Assets (EOY)
    $156,976

  • 2021 · 990-T

    Revenue
    not reported
    Expenses
    not reported
    Assets (EOY)
    not reported

  • 2020 · 990-EZ

    Revenue
    $101,093
    Expenses
    $24,787
    Assets (EOY)
    $101,698

  • 2020 · 990-T

    Revenue
    not reported
    Expenses
    not reported
    Assets (EOY)
    not reported

Nonprofiteer parses Forms 990, 990-EZ and 990-PF, in a window of recent tax years. These returns are recorded from the IRS e-file index, so their figures were extracted by that index rather than read from the return here — treat them as a different source from the filings above, not as more of the same record. A dash means the index carries no figure; Form 990-T listings carry none at all.

Grants made

No itemized grants to organizations. Schedule I is filed only by organizations that granted more than $5,000 to a recipient, so most filers have none.

Grants received

Other IRS files

Auto-Revocation List

Not listed. The IRS publishes this list for organizations whose exemption was automatically revoked for failing to file for three consecutive years.

Publication 78

Listed as of 13 October 2026, under deductibility PC.

These are two separate IRS files on two separate schedules, shown as published and not reconciled with each other. Neither is a statement about whether a contribution is deductible today: 19,245 organizations appear in Publication 78 while the IRS's own revocation file lists them as currently revoked, more than half of those revoked before 2019. Absence from Publication 78 is evidence of nothing, and presence is not evidence either. Verify current status with the IRS before relying on it.

What this page reflects

The registration facts above come from the IRS Business Master File published 13 October 2026 and read 1 November 2026, for every organization at once. Returns through tax year 2024, the newest we have parsed for this organization.