News Literacy Project Inc
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
THE NEWS LITERACY PROJECT, A NONPARTISAN EDUCATION NONPROFIT, IS BUILDING A NATIONAL MOVEMENT TO ADVANCE THE PRACTICE OF NEWS LITERACY THROUGHOUT AMERICAN SOCIETY, CREATING BETTER INFORMED, MORE ENGAGED AND MORE EMPOWERED INDIVIDUALS - AND ULTIMATELY A STRONGER DEMOCRACY.
- Income
- $9.5 million
- Spending
- $8.9 million
- Spent on programs
- 65%
- Reserves
- 4 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 95%
- Employees
- 54
- Volunteers
- 25
- Highest pay
- $336,605, president and ceo
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Good: 70 out of 100. Higher than 53% of charities in its peer group (education, $1m to $10m).
Reserves
20 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 4.0 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 4% of what it owns.
Living within its means
15 of 15Income exceeded spending by 6% of income.
Income trend
0 of 15Income fell 29% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1565% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 13 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Strong: 100 out of 100. Higher than 74% of charities in its peer group (education, $1m to $10m).
Independent board
25 of 2513 of 13 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
8 of 8Has a written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
7 of 7Has a written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
5 of 5Sets its chief executive's pay through independent review and comparison.
Independent check of accounts
15 of 15Its accounts were audited by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (1)
- $5.8 million spent. THE REAL-LIFE IMPACT OF NEWS LITERACY SKILLS ON TEENS:A RECENT TEEN VOGUE ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS HOW NEWS LITERACY SKILLS HAVE MADE A TANGIBLE DIFFERENCE IN STUDENTS' DAILY LIVES AND INCLUDES INTERVIEWS WITH STUDENTS WHO LEARNED THESE SKILLS USING NLP'S RESOURCES. ONE STUDENT RECOGNIZED THAT ELECTION POLL NUMBERS CIRCULATING ON TIKTOK WERE ACTUALLY FROM A BETTING SITE AND WARNED FRIENDS TO SEEK CREDIBLE SOURCES. ANOTHER SAID NEWS LITERACY TRAINING CHANGED THE WAY SHE APPROACHES EVERYDAY INFORMATION, MAKING HER MORE SKEPTICAL OF SENSATIONAL HEADLINES AND MORE LIKELY TO DIG DEEPER BEFORE BELIEVING OR SHARING A STORY. A THIRD APPLIED NEWS LITERACY SKILLS TO HELP MANAGE HER SCHOOL'S NEWS PAGE, BETTER EVALUATE CREDIBILITY AND BIAS, AND HELP FACILITATE A CLASS TO TEACH HER PEERS.NEVEAH RICE, NLP'S 2024 GWEN IFILL STUDENT OF THE YEAR, IS NOW A FIRST-YEAR JOURNALISM MAJOR AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, WHERE SHE CONTINUES TO CHAMPION NEWS LITERACY. AS PART OF THE SIXTH ANNUAL NATIONAL NEWS LITERACY WEEK (FEBRUARY 2025), SHE AUTHORED AN OPINION PIECE, "BIAS IS ALL OVER YOUR SOCIAL FEED. WE NEED MEDIA LITERACY TO HELP US NAVIGATE IT" (USA TODAY). IN THE ARTICLE, NEVEAH REFLECTED ON HOW THE NEWS LITERACY SKILLS SHE DEVELOPED IN HIGH SCHOOL GAVE HER A STRONG FOUNDATION FOR ANALYZING INFORMATION IN COLLEGE SKILLS MANY OF HER PEERS LACKED, PARTICULARLY WHEN IT CAME TO RECOGNIZING THE INFLUENCE OF ALGORITHMS AND DANGERS OF ECHO CHAMBERS ON SOCIAL MEDIA. HER CONTINUED ADVOCACY FOR NEWS AND MEDIA LITERACY EXEMPLIFIES THE LASTING IMPACT OF NLP'S MISSION.BY THE NUMBERS:- STUDENTS TAUGHT USING NLP RESOURCES - 574,418 STUDENTS. SURPASSING OUR GOAL OF 485,000 BY 18%. FY2024 473,004 STUDENTS- EDUCATORS ENGAGED WITH NLP'S FREE RESOURCES & PROGRAMS - 20,592 EDUCATORS.SURPASSING OUR GOAL OF 20,000 BY 3%. FY2024 19,054 EDUCATORS- SCHOOL DISTRICTS WHERE NLP'S RESOURCES WERE USED - 4,801 SCHOOL DISTRICTS. SURPASSING OUR GOAL OF 4,250 BY 13%. FY25 IS THE FIRST YEAR WE TRACKED THIS METRIC.- ORGANIZATIONAL BUDGET - 9.25 MILLION FY2024 7.38 MILLION.GROWTH AND MOMENTUM FOR THE DISTRICT FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM:LAUNCHED IN 2022, THE DISTRICT FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM IS ONE OF OUR STRONGEST DRIVERS OF LASTING CHANGE. DISTRICTS IN THE PROGRAM ARE COMMITTED TO MAKING SURE EVERY STUDENT LEARNS NEWS LITERACY SKILLS BEFORE GRADUATING FROM HIGH SCHOOL. THIS THREE-YEAR PROGRAM ENABLES PARTICIPATING DISTRICTS TO CREATE AND IMPLEMENT MODELS THAT SEAMLESSLY INTEGRATE NEWS LITERACY INTO EXISTING CURRICULA. THESE MODELS ARE EASILY REPLICABLE BY OTHER U.S. SCHOOL DISTRICTS, AT ANY GRADE LEVEL AND ACROSS SUBJECT AREAS SUCH AS ENGLISH, SOCIAL STUDIES, SCIENCE AND CIVICS.TO DATE, THREE COHORTS WITH 14 SCHOOL DISTRICTS FROM 10 STATES ARE ACTIVE IN THE PROGRAM. COHORTS 1 AND 2 COMPLETED THEIR COMMITMENTS. AS ALUMNI, PARTICIPANTS MENTOR NEW FELLOWS, LEAD TRAINING, ATTEND CONFERENCES AND SUPPORT NLP'S STATE-LEVEL ADVOCACY EFFORTS. COHORT 3 BEGINS ITS SECOND YEAR IN AUGUST AND HAS EIGHT DISTRICTS FROM FIVE STATES, INCLUDING A STATE CLUSTER OF FIVE DISTRICTS IN CALIFORNIA. INTEREST IN THE PROGRAM CONTINUES TO GROW. IN MARCH, MORE THAN 50 SCHOOL DISTRICTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY APPLIED TO JOIN COHORT 4, INCLUDING SEVERAL CLUSTERS FROM THE SAME STATES, A CLUSTER MODEL THAT HAS HELPED BUILD SCALE IN PLACES LIKE CALIFORNIA. WE EXPECT TO WELCOME 17 SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO THE PROGRAM*, OUR LARGEST COHORT YET, WITH ANOTHER 15 DISTRICTS ALREADY APPROVED AND DEFERRED TO COHORT 5.ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS FROM FISCAL YEAR 2025:TOP 10ON CHECKOLOGY, NLP'S AWARD-WINNING DIGITAL LEARNING PLATFORM, THESE WERE THE MOST POPULAR RESOURCES FOR EDUCATORS:1. MISINFORMATION 2. INFOZONES3. INTRODUCTION TO ALGORITHMS4. IS IT LEGIT? 5. EVALUATING EVIDENCE ONLINEAMONG THE RESOURCES WE HIGHLIGHTED FOR EDUCATORS THIS YEAR IN OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER, THE SIFT, THESE WERE THE MOST POPULAR:6. DAILY DO NOW SLIDES7. FACT-CHECKING RED FLAGS QUIZ8. WELLNESS & SCIENCE CLAIMS QUIZ9. 6 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT AI 10. INTRODUCTION TO ALGORITHMSIN AUGUST, NLP'S CHECKOLOGY VIRTUAL CLASSROOM WILL BE INSTANTLY AVAILABLE IN MORE THAN 95,000 SCHOOLS THROUGH CLEVER, A WIDELY USED TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM THAT IS FREE TO SCHOOLS AND ALLOWS STUDENTS AND EDUCATORS TO ACCESS MULTIPLE EDUCATIONAL TOOLS WITH A SINGLE, SECURE LOGIN.30 COLLABORATIONS 17 STATESTHIS YEAR MARKED A MILESTONE IN THE NUMBER OF STATE AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS NLP WORKED WITH. FOR THESE COLLABORATIONS, WE PROVIDED NEWS LITERACY WEBINARS, ALIGNED OUR RESOURCES WITH STATE INITIATIVES, AND INTRODUCED EDUCATORS, FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES TO NLP. ALASKA STAFF DEVELOPMENT NETWORK. ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. CONNECTICUT ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL LIBRARIANS. DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. FLORIDA CIVICS AND DEBATE INITIATIVE. HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. NEVADA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. TEXAS COMPUTER EDUCATION ASSOCIATION. UTAH STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION AND MANY MORE!RAISING AWARENESS NATIONWIDENLP'S FIRST-EVER TEEN STUDY REVEALS WIDESPREAD DISTRUST IN NEWS AND HIGH EXPOSURE TO MISINFORMATION BUT ALSO SHOWS THAT MEDIA LITERACY INSTRUCTION BOOSTS TRUST AND FOSTERS HEALTHIER NEWS HABITS. THE SIXTH ANNUAL NATIONAL NEWS LITERACY WEEK WAS NLP'S MOST SUCCESSFUL AWARENESS CAMPAIGN TO DATE WITH OVER 840 MILLION IMPRESSIONS ACROSS MANY CHANNELS.OUR 2024 ELECTION MISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN REACHED 325 MILLION VIEWERS WITH OUR PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS, 2,681 EVENT ATTENDEES, AND 56,905 USERS OF THE INAUGURAL ELECTION MISINFORMATION DASHBOARD.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated November 6, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending June 2025.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since March 2011.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated November 4, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.