FUNDING:How much tax-$ goes to anti-roadies?

Since the Cato Institute published “Smart Growth at the Public Trough,” by Peter Samuel and me (www.cato.org), I have frequently been asked whether a particular group receives government funding. A quick way to answer this question is now available on line at www.guidestar.org, which maintains a summary of the IRS annual reports for 620,000 charitable organizations.

For example, in 1998 the Surface Transp Policy Project had $2,446,068 in revenues of which $356,801 was from government grants. A few other organizations are listed in the table above. Results are available only for 1998 but should soon be available for 1999.

To access this information, type the name of the organization you want into the “Charity Search” box on Guidestar’s web site.

* Guidestar will list one or more groups that fit your description; click on the one you want.

* Guidestar will list total income for the organization. To get government grants, click “more financial information.” If “more financial information” is not available, then Guidestar could not find the IRS annual report, form 990.

* If it is available, Guidestar will list contributions, government grants, program service revenues, investment revenues, special events, sales, and other revenues.

Unfortunately, IRS annual reports do not distinguish between foundation grants and contributions from individual donors. But this information will at least tell what percent of an organization’s support comes from the EPA or other government agencies. (See table below)

We know that the Congress for New Urbanism has received grants from the EPA, including $75,000 awarded on September 18, 1998. Unless its fiscal year is peculiar, it apparently filled out its IRS forms incorrectly when it reported zero government grants. Since the IRS has stiff penalties for errors, such mistakes are probably rare.

If any readers find interesting results about organizations they know about, I hope that they will forward them to me: Randal O’Toole, The Thoreau Institute rot@ti.org http://www.ti.org If you would like to be added to or removed from the Thoreau Institute’s urban mobility list, send an email to mobility@ti.org (Real hot news to 301 631 1148 tollroads@aol.com, please. All confidences respected. TRnl)