Public.Resource.org v. United States Internal Revenue Service
Filing
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Declaration of Ken Berger in Support of 47 MOTION for Summary Judgment Plaintiff Public.Resource.Org's Consolidated Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment and Opposition to Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment filed byPublic.Resource.org. (Related document(s) 47 ) (Burke, Thomas) (Filed on 9/29/2014)
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DAVIS WRIGHT TREMAINE LLP
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THOMAS R. BURKE (CA State Bar No. 141930)
DAVIS WRIGHT TREMAINE LLP
505 Montgomery Street, Suite 800
San Francisco, California 94111
Telephone:
(415) 276-6500
Facsimile:
(415) 276-6599
Email:
thomasburke@dwt.com
RONALD G. LONDON (Pro Hac Vice)
DAVIS WRIGHT TREMAINE LLP
1919 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 800
Washington, DC 20006
Telephone:
(202) 973-4200
Email:
ronnielondon@dwt.com
DAVID HALPERIN (Pro Hac Vice)
1530 P Street NW
Washington, DC 20005
Telephone:
(202) 905-3434
Email:
davidhalperindc@gmail.com
DAN LAIDMAN (State Bar No. 274482)
DAVIS WRIGHT TREMAINE LLP
865 South Figueroa Street, Suite 2400
Los Angeles, CA 90017-2566
Telephone:
(213) 633-6800
Facsimile:
(213) 633-6899
Email:
danlaidman@dwt.com
Attorneys for Plaintiff Public.Resource.Org
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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION
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PUBLIC.RESOURCE.ORG., a California non- ) Case No. 3:13-CV-02789-WHO
profit organization,
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Plaintiff,
) DECLARATION OF KEN BERGER
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v.
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UNITED STATES INTERNAL REVENUE
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SERVICE,
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Defendant.
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Declaration of Ken Berger
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I, Ken Berger, declare as follows:
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1.
Since 2008, I have been the President and CEO of Charity Navigator, a 501(c)(3)
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nonprofit with a mission of helping charitable givers and social investors make more intelligent
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giving decisions by providing information and evaluating the financial health, accountability, and
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transparency of over 7,500 charities. I have personal knowledge of the matters stated in this
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declaration and could competently testify to them if called as a witness.
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2.
Our web site has had over 6.9 million visits in 2013 and we estimate that our
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service influences the decisions of donors for approximately $10 billion of their charitable
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donations each year.
DAVIS WRIGHT TREMAINE LLP
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3.
Our ratings examine the financial health, accountability & transparency, and results
reporting of the nonprofits we evaluate.
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In preparing our analysis and our ratings, we make intensive use of the Form 990 to
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evaluate the charities we are rating and to compare their performance to other similar nonprofit
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organizations.
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5.
Information we gather from the Form 990 helps us analyze the independence of the
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board, look for material diversion of assets, evaluate if the organization has prepared audited
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financials by an independent accountant with an audit oversight committee, examine if there are
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any loan(s) to or from related parties, whether the form 990 was provided to the organization's
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governing body in advance of filing, whether the organization has a conflict of interest policy, a
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whistleblower policy, and records retention and destruction policy. We also carefully examine the
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CEO and other executive salaries, the process for determining CEO compensation, and the board
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listing and any compensation for board members.
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6.
Many of the nonprofits we examine are either required to e-file their returns (i.e.
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over $10 million in annual gross receipts) or have chosen to do so (i.e. the remainder of those we
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examine are over $1 million in annual gross receipts).
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7.
We work with the image format of the Form 990, which has substantial
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disadvantages. The images automatically created by the IRS from e-file returns are low-resolution
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and small font sizes, which means they are hard to read. Because the numbers and other data are
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Declaration of Ken Berger
difficult to read, when we retype this infonnation into our own spreadsheets and databases, errors
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get introduced and we are forced to double and triple check our data entry work. However, errors
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are still introduced. Because the data we enter comes from low-resolution image files, the process
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is very tedious. In addition, the cost of manual data entry is vastly higher than simply importing
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digitized infonnation which in tum limits our capacity to rate as many charities as we would like
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so as to further assist charitable givers.
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Release of the e-file version of the Fonn 990 would be of great benefit to us and
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others who regularly analyze non-profit organizations. Release of e-file versions of the Fonn 990
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would also pennit us to perfonn a much broader comparative analysis on topics such as CEO
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compensation and results reporting.
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We have carefully followed the evolution of the IRS e-file programs since they
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began to require this procedure for larger charities in 2004. It has always been our expectation
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that because the Fonn 990 is intended for public inspection that thee-file version of these returns
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would be released. Only releasing this infom1ation in image fonnat has a substantial negative
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effect on the accountability and effectiveness of the nonprofit sector of our economy as well as on
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the access to meaningful analysis by the donors who support the work of the sector.
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I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws ofthe United States that the
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foregoing is true and correct and that this declaration was executed this
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