Transparency Infrastructure

Where Does
The Money
Actually Go?

Follow The Dollar tracks how much of every taxpayer dollar reaches the people it was appropriated to serve — across nonprofits, intermediaries, and public programs nationwide.

National median — Direct Capital Ratio
31¢ per dollar

Across the 200 largest publicly-funded nonprofits in America, the median recipient receives 31 cents of every dollar appropriated in their name. Source: IRS Form 990 + Federal Audit Clearinghouse.

Innovation Works — PA25¢
Feeding America38¢
Elevate Ventures — IN54¢
JumpStart — OH21¢
Natl Alliance to End Homelessness29¢
BFTP Southeast — PA28¢
Innovation Works — PA25¢
Feeding America38¢
Elevate Ventures — IN54¢
JumpStart — OH21¢
Natl Alliance to End Homelessness29¢
BFTP Southeast — PA28¢
$2.3T
Annual public funding flowing through
nonprofit intermediaries in the US
31¢
Median cents per dollar reaching
intended recipients
1.8M
Nonprofit 990 filings analyzed
via IRS public dataset
Database

Organization Profiles

Innovation Funding — Pennsylvania
Innovation Works
Pittsburgh, PA
25¢
Direct Capital
Ratio
$576K
CEO Comp
$2.9M
Top-10 Comp
FY2023
990 Year
Innovation Funding — Indiana
Elevate Ventures
Indianapolis, IN
54¢
Direct Capital
Ratio
—
CEO Comp
IN
State
FY2023
990 Year
Innovation Funding — Ohio
JumpStart
Cleveland, OH
21¢
Direct Capital
Ratio
—
CEO Comp
OH
State
FY2023
990 Year
Food Security — National
Feeding America
Chicago, IL
38¢
Direct Capital
Ratio
$1.1M
CEO Comp
$3.5B
Revenue
FY2023
990 Year
Homelessness — National
Natl Alliance to End Homelessness
Washington, DC
29¢
Direct Capital
Ratio
$313K
CEO Comp
DC
State
FY2022
990 Year
+1,847
More organizations
in the database
Geography

State-Level Performance

PA 25¢
Direct Capital Ratio
50¢+ Strong
35–50¢ Fair
20–35¢ Poor
<20¢ Critical
Methodology

The Direct Capital Ratio

Developed from forensic analysis of Pennsylvania's innovation funding ecosystem. Every figure traces to a primary audited source — no estimates, no projections.

DCR =
Direct Disbursements to Recipients
────────────────────────────
Total State Appropriations Received
Sources: IRS Form 990 Schedule I · Federal Audit Clearinghouse single audits · State budget documents · SAM.gov
How It Works
01
Pull state appropriations
Total public dollars received by the organization from state budget documents and federal audit clearinghouse single audits.
02
Identify direct disbursements
Grants and direct capital flowing to intended recipients, sourced from IRS Form 990 Schedule I filings on ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer.
03
Calculate the ratio
Divide disbursements by appropriations. The result is how many cents of every public dollar actually reached the intended recipient.
04
Cross-reference exec comp
Layer in Schedule J compensation data to show the relationship between overhead absorption and leadership pay.
Early Access

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In the meantime, the methodology and current dataset are open at followthedollar.org.
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Data Layer

Nomos provides API access to the full Direct Capital Ratio dataset — enabling researchers, journalists, policymakers, and oversight bodies to query, analyze, and monitor public dollar efficiency at scale.