--- alias: - ProPublica - Pro Publica - Pro Publica Inc category: Private Organization created: 2026-10-01 location: New York City relations: - fn: 5 reverse: true role: founding and largest donor start: 2007 type: funded with: '[[Sandler Foundation]]' - fn: 3 reverse: true role: funder and founder start: 2007 type: founded with: '[[Herbert Sandler]]' - fn: 3 reverse: true role: funder and founder start: 2007 type: founded with: '[[Marion Sandler]]' - end: 2019-06-05 fn: 7 reverse: true role: founding chairman type: director_of with: '[[Herbert Sandler]]' - end: 2021-10 fn: 7 reverse: true role: editor in chief at founding, later executive chairman type: head_of with: '[[Paul Steiger]]' - fn: 7 reverse: true role: editor-in-chief and co-chief executive type: head_of with: '[[Stephen Engelberg]]' - end: 2021-09 fn: 7 reverse: true role: president and co-chief executive type: head_of with: '[[Richard Tofel]]' - fn: 7 reverse: true role: president and co-chief executive start: 2021-09 type: head_of with: '[[Robin Sparkman]]' - fn: 7 reverse: true role: chairman of the board start: 2017 type: head_of with: '[[Paul Sagan]]' - end: 2013-09 fn: 9 role: joint reporting on NSA decryption documents start: 2013-09 type: partner_of with: '[[The Guardian]]' - end: 2013-09 fn: 9 role: joint reporting on NSA decryption documents start: 2013-09 type: partner_of with: '[[New York Times]]' - fn: 14 role: reporting on Marble Freedom Trust and judicial network start: 2022-08 type: investigated with: '[[Leonard Leo]]' - fn: 16 role: reporting on undisclosed gifts and travel start: 2023-04 type: investigated with: '[[Clarence Thomas]]' - fn: 19 role: reporting on 2008 Alaska trip start: 2023-06 type: investigated with: '[[Samuel Alito]]' start: 2007 summary: New York nonprofit investigative newsroom established in 2007 and 2008 with funding from Herbert and Marion Sandler, publisher of reporting on the Snowden files, Atomwaffen Division, leaked IRS data, Leonard Leo and justices' gifts. tags: - Organization - NonprofitNewsroom - Media - InvestigativeJournalism - SandlerFoundation - SupremeCourt - DarkMoney - Snowden - Atomwaffen - Section501c3 updated: 2026-10-01 --- ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom in [New York City](/places/new-york-city/) whose own account states that it "was founded in 2007-2008" and that its work has received nine Pulitzer Prizes.[^1] The [Internal Revenue Service](/organizations/internal-revenue-service/) recognized Pro Publica Inc (EIN 14-2007220) as exempt under section 501(c)(3) with a ruling date of February 2008.[^2] ### Founding and the Sandler money *Slate* reported on October 15, 2007 that the [San Francisco](/places/san-francisco/) Bay Area billionaires Herbert Sandler and Marion Sandler "have founded the nonprofit ProPublica" with $10 million that they promised to replenish annually, that the MacArthur Foundation, the Atlantic Philanthropies and the JEHT Foundation were also contributing, and that, according to the *[New York Times](/organizations/new-york-times/)* that day, it would hire 24 reporters and editors under Paul Steiger, the former managing editor of the *[The Wall Street Journal](/organizations/the-wall-street-journal/)*. The same article stated that the couple had made their fortune, which *[Forbes](/organizations/forbes/)* estimated at $1.2 billion, at Golden West Financial Corp., that [Federal Election Commission](/organizations/federal-election-commission/) records showed hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts to Democratic campaigns, that Herbert Sandler had given $2.5 million to the MoveOn.org Voter Fund in 2004, and that the Center for Responsive Politics recorded $8.5 million from the couple to the 527 group Citizens for a Strong Senate in the 2004 cycle.[^3] Federal Election Commission itemized receipts for the 2004 cycle include two entries dated August 11, 2004 to the MoveOn.org Voter Fund that differ by one dollar, $2,505,014 under the name "SANDLER, HERBERT" and $2,505,013 under "SANDLER, HERBERT M," and list Citizens for a Strong Senate as Marion Sandler's largest recipient in the 2004 and 2006 cycles.[^4] Jack Shafer's article in *Slate* also recalled that at the 1992 convention of the American Society of Newspaper Editors the Sandlers had blamed the press in part for the savings and loan disaster, that Marion Sandler asked "Where were you when it was happening?", and that, in the words of the *Chicago Tribune* reporter James Warren as quoted by *Slate*, Herbert Sandler "conceded that, apart from being an occasional anonymous source for one Wall Street Journal reporter, he declined to help journalists as much as he probably should have." It also noted that ProPublica's website promised investigations conducted "in a non-partisan and non-ideological manner."[^3] ### Golden West, Wachovia and the board chairman On August 8, 2011 ProPublica reported that Wells Fargo had agreed to pay $590 million to settle class actions by investors in bonds sold by Wachovia, which Wells Fargo had acquired in October 2008. The article stated that the suits alleged that Wachovia misrepresented the quality of a mortgage portfolio it bought from Golden West Financial, whose founders and chief executives were Herb and Marion Sandler, and added: "Herb Sandler is ProPublica's board chairman, and the Sandler Foundation is ProPublica's founding and largest donor. The Sandlers are not accused of wrongdoing or named as defendants in the suit." The consolidated complaint focused on a $120 billion portfolio of loans purchased from Golden West, an $8 billion portfolio of collateralized debt obligations and $15 billion of goodwill, and heavily on option adjustable-rate mortgages marketed as "Pick-A-Pay" that allowed borrowers to defer payments. Wachovia had bought Golden West for $24.3 billion in a sale announced in May 2006 and closed in October 2006. The Sandlers declined to comment on the allegations in the complaint, and Wells Fargo said the settlement was not an admission of liability.[^5] ### Sandler Foundation grants The Sandler Foundation (EIN 94-3147856, San Francisco) files its Form 990 for years ended June 30. Schedule I, Part II of the returns for the years ended June 30, 2013 through June 30, 2025 lists the following cash grants to Pro Publica Inc (EIN 14-2007220): $3,000,000 (2013), three grants of $1,000,000 (2014), four of $1,000,000 (2015), three of $1,000,000 in each of 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, $3,000,000 (2020), $3,000,000 (2021), $1,000,000 (2022), $2,000,000 (2023), $2,000,000 (2024) and $6,000,000 (2025), a total of $39,000,000 across the thirteen years. The same Schedule I entries, over the rows whose grantee could be read, total at least $49,750,000 in grants to the Center for American Progress and at least $34,835,000 in grants to the Center for Responsible Lending.[^6] ### Board and officers The Form 990 for calendar 2014 lists Herbert M. Sandler as founding chairman (three hours a week, no reportable compensation) and Paul E. Steiger as executive chairman (30 hours a week, $201,352 in reportable compensation), with directors Mark Colodny, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Claire Hoffman, Robert C. S. Monks, Ron Olson, Paul Sagan, Kat Taylor and Tom Unterman; Richard Tofel as president and co-chief executive ($376,782) and Stephen Engelberg as editor-in-chief and co-chief executive ($372,391). The return for 2016 adds S. Donald Sussman and lists Jeffrey Gerth as a senior reporter through December 31, 2016; Unterman's directorship ended December 6, 2016. In the return for 2017 Sagan is chairman, Sandler remains founding chairman and Steiger executive chairman (reportable compensation $96,664), and the directors include Angela Filo, Katie McGrath and James Stone. Tofel's reportable compensation that year was $396,415.[^7] The return for 2019 records Sandler as founding chairman "thru 6/5/19" and Kat Taylor as a director through July 10, 2019. The return for 2021 records Steiger as executive chairman through October 2021 and Tofel as co-chief executive through September 2021, with Robin Sparkman as president and co-chief executive from September 2021. Directors in the 2024 return are Sagan (chairman), Claire Bernard, Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Colodny, Steve Daetz, Filo, Gates, Hoffman, Anu Khosla, Jonathan Klein, Carrie Lozano, McGrath, Monks, Stone and Charles F. Whitaker; Olson's directorship had ended in October 2023.[^7] The organization's reported contributions were $10,115,367 in 2011, $13,678,241 in 2013, $43,063,123 in 2017, $37,366,751 in 2019 and $55,857,720 in 2023, and its total assets at the end of 2023 were $85,514,123. The Nonprofit Explorer record for the period ending December 2024 shows revenue of $64,268,632 and assets of $108,058,174.[^8] ### The Snowden documents, 2013 On September 5, 2013 ProPublica published, in partnership with the *New York Times* and [The Guardian](/organizations/the-guardian/), a report on the [National Security Agency](/organizations/nsa/) and [GCHQ](/organizations/gchq/) programs to defeat encryption, written for ProPublica by Jeff Larson. The article stated that the documents were "among more than 50,000 shared by The Guardian with The New York Times and ProPublica," that intelligence officials had asked the Times and ProPublica not to publish, and that the news organizations removed some specific facts but decided to publish. Larson's article was credited for the Guardian to James Ball, Julian Borger and Glenn Greenwald, and for the Times to Nicole Perlroth and Scott Shane.[^9] ### Atomwaffen Division, 2018 On May 3, 2018 ProPublica published, with the PBS Frontline program, an article on active-duty military members in the [Atomwaffen Division](/organizations/atomwaffen-division/), stating that the journalists had obtained seven months of messages from a confidential chat room used by the group and had identified three Atomwaffen members or associates then employed by the Army or Navy and three who had served in the past.[^10] On June 20, 2018 ProPublica reported that Lance Corporal [Vasillios George Pistolis](/people/vasillios-george-pistolis/), whom it had identified as a neo-Nazi and as an assailant at the Charlottesville rally of August 2017, had been convicted at a summary court-martial of disobeying orders and making false statements and would be imprisoned for a month, reduced in rank and likely forced from the United States Marine Corps; the article stated that in the previous 13 months Atomwaffen members and associates had been charged in five murders and a bomb plot.[^11] ### The IRS data, 2021 to 2026 On June 8, 2021 ProPublica published "The Secret IRS Files" by Jesse Eisinger, Jeff Ernsthausen and Paul Kiel, stating that it had obtained "a vast trove of Internal Revenue Service data on the tax returns of thousands of the nation's wealthiest people, covering more than 15 years." Its first article stated that the 25 wealthiest Americans paid $13.6 billion in federal income taxes from 2014 to 2018 while their wealth, according to *Forbes*, rose $401 billion, a "true tax rate" of 3.4 percent.[^12] In the case of Charles Littlejohn, *[United States](/places/united-states/) v. Littlejohn*, No. 24-3019, decided July 17, 2026, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (Judges Rao, Walker and Rogers, with Judge Walker writing) affirmed a five-year sentence imposed on him in the District Court (No. 1:23-cr-00343). The opinion states that Littlejohn obtained a consulting job with the Internal Revenue Service in 2017, gave the tax return information of [Donald Trump](/people/donald-trump/) to a *New York Times* reporter in 2019, and took the tax return information of about 600 entities and about 7,600 of the wealthiest Americans, which he "leaked ... to ProPublica, which used data regarding at least 152 of his victims in about 50 articles." The court wrote that "ProPublica is sitting on the private, as-yet-unpublished data of other taxpayers stolen by Littlejohn."[^13] ### Leonard Leo and Barre Seid, 2022 and 2023 On August 22, 2022 ProPublica and The Lever published an article by Andrew Perez of The Lever and by Andy Kroll and Justin Elliott of ProPublica reporting that Barre Seid, then 90, had given a nonprofit run by [Leonard Leo](/people/leonard-leo/) a donation worth $1.6 billion, described as the largest known donation to a political advocacy group in United States history. The article stated that the *New York Times* had first reported the gift and that ProPublica and The Lever confirmed it from documents obtained independently. It reported that the Marble Freedom Trust was created in April 2020 in Utah; that its address was a house in North Salt Lake owned by Tyler Green, a former law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas who is listed in the trust's tax return as an administrative trustee; that Seid transferred his full ownership of the electronics maker Tripp Lite to the trust; that in February 2021 Tripp Lite's annual report to the State of Illinois had Seid's name crossed out as an officer and Leo's written in; and that Eaton bought Tripp Lite for $1.65 billion in March 2021. The authors quoted the tax law professor Ellen Aprill that a gift to a 501(c)(4) avoided the tax on the appreciation, and reported that lawyers said Seid avoided up to $400 million in taxes. The article stated that Seid and Leo had worked together at the Chicago Freedom Trust, a charity Seid formed in 2009, and that Seid appeared to be the donor listed as "Barry Seid" who gave $17 million in 2008 to distribute copies of a DVD of the film *Obsession* in presidential battleground states. It quoted Leo's statement to the *Times* that it was "high time for the conservative movement to be among the ranks of George Soros, Hansjörg Wyss, Arabella Advisors and other left-wing philanthropists."[^14] On October 11, 2023 ProPublica published a long article by Andy Kroll, Andrea Bernstein and Ilya Marritz on Leo. It described a dinner Leo hosted in Maine on June 23, 2022 for about 70 guests including some two dozen federal and state judges, held during a conference of George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School, and reported that Leo had arranged for Justices Antonin Scalia and Thomas to attend Koch brothers donor retreats from 2007 and, according to the *[Washington Post](/organizations/washington-post/)*, had directed Kellyanne Conway in 2012 to pay Ginni Thomas at least $25,000 as a subcontractor, with the instruction "No mention of Ginni, of course." Leo denied that the payments had any connection to the Court.[^15] ### Reporting on Supreme Court justices, 2023 On April 6, 2023 ProPublica published Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski's article reporting that for more than two decades Justice Thomas had accepted luxury trips almost every year from the Dallas real estate businessman Harlan Crow without disclosing them, including a nine-day trip to Indonesia in 2019 on Crow's superyacht that could have cost more than $500,000 if chartered, flights on Crow's jet, trips to the Bohemian Grove and stays at Crow's Adirondacks resort. A guest list for one trip in July 2017 included executives of Verizon and PricewaterhouseCoopers, major Republican donors and a leader of the American Enterprise Institute, and a painting at the resort showed Thomas in conversation with Leo. Crow said in a statement that the hospitality was "no different from the hospitality we have extended to our many other dear friends" and that he was "unaware of any of our friends ever lobbying or seeking to influence Justice Thomas on any case."[^16] On April 13 ProPublica reported that in 2014 a Crow company bought three properties in Savannah, Georgia, including the house where Thomas's mother lived, for $133,363 from Thomas, his mother and the family of his late brother, and that Thomas had not disclosed the sale; Crow said he intended to create a museum.[^17] On May 4 it reported that Crow's company paid the boarding school tuition of a grandnephew Thomas was raising, a payment that Mark Paoletta, Thomas's friend and Ginni Thomas's lawyer, acknowledged.[^18] On June 20 it reported that Paul Singer, a hedge fund founder, had flown Justice Samuel Alito on a private jet to a July 2008 fishing trip in Alaska at a lodge owned by Robin Arkley II, that Leo helped organize the trip and asked Singer whether Alito could fly on the jet, and that Singer's fund had cases before the Court at least ten times afterward, including a 2014 case against [Argentina](/places/argentina/) in which Alito did not recuse himself and voted with the majority. Leo said in a statement that he "would never presume to tell" Alito and Scalia "what to do."[^19] On July 12, 2023 ProPublica reported that Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Dick Durbin had written to Singer, Arkley and Leo requesting a full accounting of transportation, lodging and gifts to any justice.[^20] On August 10 it reported that Thomas had received at least 38 destination vacations, 26 private jet flights, eight helicopter flights and a dozen VIP sports passes from a group of wealthy donors, and quoted Thomas's April statement that the Crows "are among our dearest friends."[^21] On August 31, after Thomas filed an expanded disclosure form, ProPublica reported that he acknowledged he should have reported the 2014 real estate sale, that he had disclosed three private jet trips from Crow in 2022, and that his lawyer Elliot Berke said there had been "no willful ethics transgression."[^22] On September 22 it reported that Thomas attended at least two Koch network donor events, including a January 25, 2018 summit in Palm Springs, and had not reported the flight on his disclosure form; a Koch network spokesperson said the network did not pay for the jet.[^23] ### Supporters and gift policy ProPublica's supporters page lists "some of our larger donors," among them the Sandler Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Arnold Ventures, the Emerson Collective, Crankstart, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund, Splunk, and the law firms Davis Wright Tremaine and Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton. Its gift acceptance practices state that no donor may dictate what it reports on and that it discloses donations of $5,000 or more in its tax filings.[^24] In *Columbia Journalism Review* on August 21, 2020 Tim Schwab wrote that his review of nearly twenty thousand Gates Foundation grants found more than $250 million for journalism, with recipients including ProPublica and The Guardian.[^25] [^1]: ProPublica, "About," https://www.propublica.org/about/ (accessed October 1, 2026). [^2]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, organization record for Pro Publica Inc, EIN 14-2007220, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/142007220.json (queried October 1, 2026; ruling date 2008-02, subsection 3). [^3]: Jack Shafer, "Investigating Herbert and Marion Sandler, the funders of the new investigative journalism outfit," *Slate*, October 15, 2007, https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2007/10/investigating-herbert-and-marion-sandler-the-funders-of-the-new-investigative-journalism-outfit.html [^4]: Federal Election Commission, Schedule A itemized receipts, queried through the OpenFEC API on October 1, 2026 for contributor names "SANDLER, HERBERT" and "SANDLER, MARION," two-year transaction periods 2004, 2006 and 2008 (https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/schedules/schedule_a/). [^5]: Jake Bernstein, "Wells Fargo Picks to Pay," ProPublica, August 8, 2011, https://www.propublica.org/article/wells-fargo-picks-to-pay [^6]: Sandler Foundation, Form 990, Schedule I, Part II, for tax years beginning July 1, 2012 through July 1, 2024 (years ended June 30, 2013 through June 30, 2025), ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/943147856 (object IDs 201420459349303162, 201531339349303388, 201620469349302842, 201710469349303771, 201800899349300645, 201901339349302285, 202021369349303167, 202141329349304039, 202241319349306374, 202320959349300902, 202401029349300145, 202511339349309036 and 202611349349311916; full-text renderings under https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text/). Grantee names are missing from some rows in the renderings for the year ended June 2014 and others, so grants to other recipients were counted only where the name or EIN could be read. [^7]: Pro Publica Inc, Form 990, Part VII, Section A, for calendar years 2014 through 2024, ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/142007220 (object IDs 201501919349300415, 201612249349301181, 201732339349301053, 201832369349300743, 201912209349300626, 202042889349300439, 202102379349300020, 202242699349300499, 202312619349301136, 202412699349300726 and 202523189349307912). [^8]: Pro Publica Inc, Form 990 summary data, ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/142007220.json (queried October 1, 2026). [^9]: Jeff Larson, "Revealed: The NSA's Secret Campaign to Crack, Undermine Internet Security," ProPublica, September 5, 2013, https://www.propublica.org/article/the-nsas-secret-campaign-to-crack-undermine-internet-encryption (reported in partnership with the New York Times and The Guardian). [^10]: "Ranks of Notorious Hate Group Include Active-Duty Military," ProPublica and PBS Frontline, May 3, 2018, https://www.propublica.org/article/atomwaffen-division-hate-group-active-duty-military [^11]: A. C. Thompson and Ali Winston, "U.S. Marine to Be Imprisoned Over Involvement With Hate Groups," ProPublica, June 20, 2018, https://www.propublica.org/article/vasilios-pistolis-imprisoned-marine-hate-groups [^12]: Jesse Eisinger, Jeff Ernsthausen and Paul Kiel, "The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax," ProPublica, June 8, 2021, https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax [^13]: *United States v. Littlejohn*, No. 24-3019 (D.C. Cir. July 17, 2026), argued November 4, 2025, on appeal from No. 1:23-cr-00343 (D.D.C.), https://media.cadc.uscourts.gov/opinions/docs/2026/07/24-3019-2183720.pdf [^14]: Andrew Perez, Andy Kroll and Justin Elliott, "How a Secretive Billionaire Handed His Fortune to the Architect of the Right-Wing Takeover of the Courts," ProPublica and The Lever, August 22, 2022, https://www.propublica.org/article/dark-money-leonard-leo-barre-seid [^15]: Andy Kroll, Andrea Bernstein and Ilya Marritz, "We Don't Talk About Leonard: The Man Behind the Right's Supreme Court Supermajority," ProPublica, October 11, 2023, https://www.propublica.org/article/we-dont-talk-about-leonard-leo-supreme-court-supermajority [^16]: Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski, "Clarence Thomas Secretly Accepted Luxury Trips From GOP Donor," ProPublica, April 6, 2023, https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow [^17]: "Clarence Thomas Didn't Disclose Harlan Crow Real Estate Deal," ProPublica, April 13, 2023, https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-harlan-crow-real-estate-scotus [^18]: "Clarence Thomas Raised Him. Harlan Crow Paid His Tuition." ProPublica, May 4, 2023 (headline as published: "Clarence Thomas Had a Child in Private School. Harlan Crow Paid the Tuition."), https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-harlan-crow-private-school-tuition-scotus [^19]: "Alito Took Unreported Luxury Trip With GOP Donor Paul Singer," ProPublica, June 20, 2023, https://www.propublica.org/article/samuel-alito-luxury-fishing-trip-paul-singer-scotus-supreme-court [^20]: "Senators Ask Paul Singer, Leonard Leo for Accounting of Gifts to SCOTUS Justices," ProPublica, July 12, 2023, https://www.propublica.org/article/senators-ask-paul-singer-leonard-leo-accounting-gifts-supreme-court [^21]: "Clarence Thomas' 38 Vacations: The Other Billionaires Who Have Treated the Supreme Court Justice to Luxury Travel," ProPublica, August 10, 2023, https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-other-billionaires-sokol-huizenga-novelly-supreme-court [^22]: "Clarence Thomas Filing Acknowledges Harlan Crow Real Estate Deal, Private Jet Travel," ProPublica, August 31, 2023, https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-disclosure-filing-harlan-crow-real-estate-travel-scotus [^23]: "Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events," ProPublica, September 22, 2023, https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-secretly-attended-koch-brothers-donor-events-scotus [^24]: ProPublica, "Supporters," https://www.propublica.org/supporters, and "Gift Acceptance Practices," https://www.propublica.org/gift-acceptance-practices (both accessed October 1, 2026). [^25]: Tim Schwab, "Journalism's Gates keepers," *Columbia Journalism Review*, August 21, 2020, https://www.cjr.org/criticism/gates-foundation-journalism-funding.php