GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT INC

As filed

Subsection

03

NTEE code

W20

Classification

1000

Street

1612 K ST NW STE 808

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

• FOOD INTEGRITY & CORPORATE/GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY Under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), we represent two contract farmers who have raised concerns about the unfair practices of Purdue Farms, the company for which they once worked. On their behalf we filed a complaint with the US Department of Labor and during the resulting administrative law proceedings, the Administrative Law Judge found that the FSMA did apply to these farmers and that their whistleblowing through non-governmental organizations qualified for protection under the act. During 2024 while the parties were pursuing discovery, Perdue sued Craig Watts, one of the farmers, and the Department of Labor in federal district court alleging that his 7th Amendment right to a jury trial was violated by the FSMA. We are actively opposing this attempt to cripple an important protection for food safety whistleblowers. We were able to push back against efforts to weaken the Packers and Stockyard Act and able to share our recommendations for the implementation of the laws final rules. Three of the four suggestions we offered were included included in the final regulations. We also supported legislation to increase traceability efforts in food as well as increased transparency and communication not only between federal and state agencies, but from companies themselves as well. We advocated for several pieces of legislation that would strengthen whistleblower protections, including legislation that would grant the same whistleblowers protections to the Legislative Branch as other governmental or corporate employees enjoy. Our Know Your Rights campaign continued as we made presentations to a number of federal employees across agencies,including the FDA, DOJ, and USDA. We submitted a statement to Congress in support of the April 16, 2024, Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Legacy of Harm: Eliminating the Abuse of Solitary Confinement. The report detailed our whistleblowers disclosures and extensive work on the subject. After we reported multiple whistleblower to Congress, the Office of Special Counsel, and the Department of Homeland Security about misconduct from the Acting CPB Chief Medical Officer throughout 2024, he was removed from his position in December. We reached a resolution with the White House Office of Science and Technology over a whistleblower complaint regarding the Presidents then-top advisor in 2022 who was accused of bullying and demeaning his subordinates. Though the terms and nature of the resolution remain confidential, we can disclose that an agreement was reached. We researched and filed an amicus brief in the US Supreme Court on behalf of US Senators Charles Grassley and Ron Wyden to contest a corporate whistleblower case decision by the Federal Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit which upended the burdens of proof in nearly every federal whistleblower law in the nation, including Sarbanes Oxley, the Safe Food Modernization Act, the Whistleblower Protection Act, and over twenty other laws protecting whistleblowers who expose violations of law, environmental dangers, public health threats, worker endangerment, and government fraud. The unacceptable burden of proof established by the panel of judges would force a whistleblower to prove that the his or her employer had acted out of malice in retaliating against the employee for their whistleblowing. We filed the amicus in February 2023, and in February 2024 the Court overturned the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in a unanimous decision. It was the first time the Supreme Court has ever rendered a decision about the burdens of proof first established in 1989 with the passage of the Whistleblower Protection Act. We collaborated with several coalition partners and allies including Campaign for Agriculture Reform and Safe Food Coalition. With them, we have been able to share our legislative recommendations to strengthen legislation regarding public and food safety. With the Safe Food Coalition, we formally advocated against attempts to delay important food safety protections, such as the full implementation of FSMA, and expressed support for bills that address gaps in the FDAs authority to address food and safety concerns.

  Expenses $2,448,871

• ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE In April 2024, we released the fourth installment of the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster Report that reveals terrifying consequences of cleanup with the use of the chemical Corexit. The report, released just before before the 14th memorial of the oil disaster, features nearly two dozen new affidavits from whistleblowers including cleanup workers, residents, journalists, medical personnel, filmmakers, BP contractors and an EPA official. As a whole, they reveal the devastating long-term and ongoing effects of oil and a toxic chemical dispersant on their bodies and the environment. In August, along with the ALERT Project we filed a petition to the EPA and the UN to delist Corexit and ban the use of its stockpiles. This follows our successful push to get the manufacturer to stop producing the toxic chemical. Our efforts to investigate the catastrophic train derailment from early 2023 have continued, and in July 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) opened an investigation into the Airborne Spectral Photometric Environmental Collection Technology (ASPECT) flight missions, policies, procedures, and quality assurance project plans employed during EPAs response to the disaster. This investigation was launched after our whistleblowers exposed discrepancies between their results and the results from the contractors hired by the railway company. These whistleblowers found significantly higher levels of toxins throughout the community compared to what the corporate contractor reported. In September, we filed a petition based on four whistleblower disclosures to the EPA to start hotline to the EPAs OIG to investigate the mishandling of the situation. In December 2024, we sued the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), FEMAs parent agency, for failing to generate responsive documents to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made earlier regarding FEMAs role in the East Palestine, Ohio, Train Derailment response.

  Expenses $221,380

• INTERNATIONAL In 2024 the first Spanish-language whistleblower website launched in Chile, where whistleblower rights are a novelty among the legal community. The website, Whistleblower Chile, gives people access to resources and creates awareness about whistleblowing, including Chilean case law, statutes,and profiles of whistleblowers from Chile and other Spanish-language countries. This project was created by our Senior International Fellow for Latin America, Jorge Martnez Rivera. In 2024, Government Accountability Project wrapped up its three-year project in Serbia with Pitaljka/Eutopia Association to help increase the capacity of future lawyers to practice anti-corruption and whistleblower law and provide legal services to whistleblowers through increasing University of Belgrade Law School students knowledge of whistleblower law and teaching them lawyering skills. The project was funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. In July 2024, Government Accountability Projects International Director and Senior International Fellow for Latin America attended Transparency Internationals Anti-Corruption Conference in Lithuania. Our International Director spoke on a panel on international whistleblower rights. In August 2024, Government Accountability Projects International Director and Legal Director traveled to Oslo, Norway to present their research on the implementation of the European Union whistleblower directive. International Whistleblowing Research Network organized the conference. In October 2024, Government Accountability Project received a subgrant from the Association for the Promotion of Good Governance and Performance SHIFT in Croatia to implement a projected funded by the U.S. Department of State. The name of the project is Supporting transparency of governance and strengthening whistleblower protections in Croatia. In May 2024, Government Accountability Projects International Director, Legal Director, and Senior International Fellow for Latin America participated in a a project to help the Directorate-General for Ethics and Government Integrity (DIGEIG) develop a draft law on the protection of whistleblowers. This project was supported by the Program for the Development of Commercial Law (CLDP) of the United States Department of Commerce, and USAID and included a workshop in the Dominican Republic in November 2024, where we presented international best practices for whistleblower legislation. The Government Accountability Project continued to provide global leadership with Legal Director Tom Devine continuing to serve on the Board of Whistleblowing International Network (WIN) and International Director Samantha Feinstein continuing as Vice Chair of the Board on the United Nation Convention Against Corruption committee. GAP helped WIN prepare a policy rebuttal and engage in public advocacy leading to withdrawal of an anti-whistleblower law in Slovakia that would have violated the 2019 EU Whistleblower Directive for which GAP was on the front lines of development. We sourced nonpublic datasets from several different corporate secrecy havens in the Americas that will provide the basis for collaborative investigative projects. Co-hosted by the US Embassy in Mexico and other organizations, our international program director traveled to Mexico City in April 2024 for the 4th roundtable meeting on Combatting Corruption through Whistleblowers in Mexico. With the objective of developing a potential law through training and mentorship, GAP presented the 20 best whistleblower practices and a general overview of international whistleblowing practices. Our work also included a workshop to develop principles for a future whistleblower law in Mexico. When a delegation from Mexico came to DC on a whistleblower study tour, we provided an overview of whistleblower laws and frameworks and discussed the role of the relationship between civil society and the government. In May 2024, Government Accountability Project submitted a letter to the UN Internal Justice Council recommending 62 practical internal policy improvements to reform its internal justice system and whistleblower protections to conform with international best practices. We also continued to represent whistleblowers from the UN and other international organizations.

  Expenses $236,923

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.

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. Earlier years are each on their own filing page.

Filings

• 2024

  Revenue

  $4,425,035

  Expenses

  $3,458,567

  Contributions

  $3,129,118

  Grants paid

  $0

• 2023

  Revenue

  $3,232,962

  Expenses

  $3,280,017

  Contributions

  $2,838,028

  Grants paid

  $0

• 2022

  Revenue

  $2,943,653

  Expenses

  $3,587,660

  Contributions

  $2,589,957

  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

• 2021 · 990

  Revenue

  $3,332,490

  Expenses

  $3,951,929

  Assets (EOY)

  $1,623,127

• 2020 · 990

  Revenue

  $3,844,807

  Expenses

  $3,587,891

  Assets (EOY)

  $2,480,333

• 2019 · 990

  Revenue

  $3,497,955

  Expenses

  $3,361,792

  Assets (EOY)

  $1,859,986

• 2018 · 990

  Revenue

  $2,834,911

  Expenses

  $2,808,081

  Assets (EOY)

  $1,555,967

• 2017 · 990

  Revenue

  $2,974,452

  Expenses

  $2,396,423

  Assets (EOY)

  $1,651,843

• 2016 · 990

  Revenue

  $3,099,093

  Expenses

  $2,325,109

  Assets (EOY)

  $1,141,110

• 2015 · 990

  Revenue

  $2,092,185

  Expenses

  $2,788,784

  Assets (EOY)

  $729,318

• 2014 · 990

  Revenue

  $3,477,008

  Expenses

  $3,065,392

  Assets (EOY)

  $1,524,768

• 2013 · 990

  Revenue

  $2,109,997

  Expenses

  $3,498,796

  Assets (EOY)

  $1,178,474

• 2012 · 990

  Revenue

  — not reported

  Expenses

  $3,127,411

  Assets (EOY)

  $2,626,317

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. Showing the 10 most recent; the API carries the rest.

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

• COLUMBUS FOUNDATION

  $900,000

  2024 · NEIGHBORHOOD

• COLUMBUS FOUNDATION

  $600,000

  2023 · URBAN AFFAIRS

• FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND

  $466,313

  2024 · For grant recipient's exempt purposes

• COLUMBUS FOUNDATION

  $300,000

  2022 · URBAN AFFAIRS

• SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION

  $300,000

  2022 · CIVIL RIGHTS, SOCIAL ACTION, ADVOCACY

• SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION

  $300,000

  2024 · ENVIRONMENT AND ANIMALS

• SILICON VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

  $300,000

  2023 · Civic Participation

• AMERICAN BAR ENDOWMENT

  $231,830

  2024 · GENERAL SUPPORT

• JEWISH COMMUNAL FUND

  $102,000

  2024 · IN FURTHERANCE OF GRANTEE'S TAX-EXEMPT PURPOSE

• FUND FOR CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

  $99,010

  2022 · GENERAL SUPPORT; TRANSFER OF WHISTLEBLOWER NOW TO SISSY FARENTHOLD FELLOWSHIP FUND

The 10 largest by cash amount. The API serves every itemized grant.

California fundraising campaigns

Campaigns run by paid fundraisers, commercial coventurers and thrift stores naming this organization, as California published them. Both figures are as filed, and what the first one counts depends on the campaign type — a coventurer or a thrift store files its own sales rather than money collected for the charity. The 990 reports this only as a yearly total, never per campaign.

• HUDSON BAY COMPANY OF ILLINOIS INC.

  $13,293 raised

  2024 · Commercial Fundraiser

  $10,618 to charity

• HUDSON BAY COMPANY OF ILLINOIS INC.

  $15,238 raised

  2023 · Commercial Fundraiser

  $12,216 to charity

• HUDSON BAY COMPANY OF ILLINOIS INC.

  $20,113 raised

  2021 · Commercial Fundraiser

  $15,986 to charity

• HUDSON BAY COMPANY OF ILLINOIS INC.

  $21,197 raised

  2020 · Commercial Fundraiser

  $16,730 to charity

• HUDSON BAY COMPANY OF ILLINOIS INC.

  $24,355 raised

  2019 · Commercial Fundraiser

  $18,935 to charity

Amounts are as filed and do not add up: a commercial coventurer reports one promotion's whole gross once for each charity that shared in it. A campaign may also name more than one registered charity, in which case it appears on each.

Other IRS files