Save the Children Federation, Inc.’s IRS Form 990 is a public document you can download for free. The fastest route is to search the organization’s Employer Identification Number, 06-0726487, on the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool or on ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer.1Save the Children. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) The return covers total revenue, program spending, executive pay, and board governance for one of the largest international relief organizations based in the United States.
Where To Download the Return
Go to the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search (TEOS) at apps.irs.gov/app/eos. In the database dropdown, select “Form 990 Series Returns,” then enter the EIN (060726487; the dash is optional) or the organization’s name in quotation marks. The fields are not case-sensitive. Results include image-copy PDFs of the filed returns.2Internal Revenue Service. Search for Tax Exempt Organizations
ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer is usually easier for casual research. It hosts summary data along with full PDF and machine-readable XML versions of electronically filed returns, and it lets you compare revenue, expenses, and executive compensation across years side by side.3ProPublica. Nonprofit Explorer
If neither tool has what you need, you can file Form 4506-A to request public inspection or a copy of an exempt organization return, or call the IRS Tax Exempt and Government Entities line at 877-829-5500.2Internal Revenue Service. Search for Tax Exempt Organizations You can also request to inspect the return directly at Save the Children’s headquarters in Fairfield, Connecticut.4Save the Children. Contact Us
One thing to check before you download: Save the Children follows a fiscal year, and the most recent filing on public databases can lag several months behind the due date. Pick the tax year you want before searching so you don’t grab an older return by mistake.
What the Revenue Section Shows
Part I gives a top-line snapshot; Part VIII, the Statement of Revenue, breaks income down by source. Save the Children reports substantial federal grant revenue tied to international relief, individual contributions, and investment income from its endowment. On its most recently available filing, the organization reported roughly $896 million in total revenue.5Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 990
Each stream is categorized separately, so you can see how much comes from program service fees, public donations, government funding, and investment returns. The IRS uses this breakdown, together with Schedule A, to verify that a 501(c)(3) public charity meets the public support test: generally, at least one-third of support must come from the general public rather than a single private source.6Internal Revenue Service. Exempt Organizations Annual Reporting Requirements – Form 990, Schedules A and B: Public Charity Support Test
Schedule D, Part V, adds detail on endowment funds. It reports beginning and end-of-year balances broken into board-designated, permanent, and term categories, along with contributions, investment earnings, grants paid out, and administrative expenses drawn from those funds.7Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule D (Form 990) That section tells you how much of the endowment is being spent on current charitable work and how much stays invested.
What the Program Spending Shows
Part III is where Save the Children describes what it actually did with the money. The organization reports its three largest program areas, typically global health, education, and emergency response, along with the dollar amount spent on each. On the most recent return, program service expenses totaled approximately $746 million out of roughly $957 million in total spending. That works out to about 78 cents of every dollar going to direct charitable work.
The narrative entries describe specific initiatives during the reporting period, such as maternal health programs, domestic literacy efforts, and disaster relief operations. These descriptions must stay consistent with the exempt purposes established when the organization applied for tax-exempt status; material changes have to be reported to the IRS.8Internal Revenue Service. EO Operational Requirements: Notifying IRS of Changes in Purposes or Activities Reading Part III alongside the revenue data tells you whether contributions are reaching the field or getting absorbed elsewhere.
What Executives Are Paid
Part VII lists compensation for officers, directors, trustees, key employees, the five highest-compensated employees earning over $100,000, and the highest-paid independent contractors. Schedule J adds detail on compensation practices for those listed. Together the sections show base salary, bonus and incentive pay, deferred compensation, and non-cash benefits like health insurance and retirement plan contributions.9Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule J (Form 990)
Federal law requires tax-exempt organizations to make these returns publicly available, so the CEO’s pay and other top-executive compensation are open information.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6104 – Publicity of Information Required From Certain Exempt Organizations and Certain Trusts The figures let you judge whether pay is reasonable for an organization of this size and complexity.
How To Read Overhead and Fundraising Costs
Part IX, the Statement of Functional Expenses, divides every dollar spent into three columns: program services, management and general, and fundraising. Program service expenses cover the direct costs of charitable work, such as shipping medical supplies or running educational programs. Management costs include administrative overhead like legal fees, accounting, and office operations. Fundraising captures the cost of soliciting donations, including fees to professional fundraising firms and direct-mail campaign costs.5Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 990
That three-column layout is the most useful part of the filing for donors. It lets you calculate the share of total spending that reaches charitable programs versus what gets consumed by administration and fundraising. Some overhead is inevitable for a large international relief operation. Unusually high fundraising-to-program ratios compared with peer organizations are worth investigating further.
What Governance Disclosures Reveal
Part VI covers internal governance: board composition, management policies, and potential conflicts of interest. The form asks whether the organization has a written conflict-of-interest policy, whether officers and directors disclose personal business interests each year, and whether the organization monitors compliance. It also asks about whistleblower protections and document retention.11Internal Revenue Service. Exempt Organizations Annual Reporting Requirements – Form 990, Part VI and Schedule L: Transactions Reported on Schedule L
A board member counts as not independent if they or a family member had a reportable transaction with the organization during the year. Reportable transactions include excess benefit deals, loans to or from officers and key employees, grants to insiders, and business transactions between the organization and its leadership.11Internal Revenue Service. Exempt Organizations Annual Reporting Requirements – Form 990, Part VI and Schedule L: Transactions Reported on Schedule L A low percentage of independent board members, or a “No” on any of the governance policy questions, is worth noting. It doesn’t automatically mean wrongdoing, but well-run nonprofits nearly always answer yes to all of them.
Which Fiscal Year You’ll See
Form 990 is due on the 15th day of the fifth month after the organization’s tax year ends. Filers can get an automatic six-month extension using Form 8868.12Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8868 For a large filer like Save the Children, that means the most recent return you can pull is often one that was filed roughly a year and a half after the fiscal year began. If a particular year isn’t yet showing up in TEOS or Nonprofit Explorer, it hasn’t posted yet; check back or request it directly from the organization.