Which major U.S. nonprofits reported program expense ratios above 80% on their most recent Form 990 filings?
Executive summary
There is no authoritative list in the provided reporting that names which major U.S. nonprofits reported program expense ratios above 80% on their most recent Form 990s; the public record needed to answer that question exists but must be queried (IRS data, Form 990 PDFs and third‑party databases) rather than inferred from the guidance and commentary supplied here [1] [2] [3]. Industry commentary notes the 80% program / 20% overhead benchmark is widely referenced, but the IRS does not require a minimum program expense ratio — so identifying organizations above that threshold requires inspecting each organization's Form 990 and schedules [4] [5] [6].
1. Why the data exists but isn’t in the supplied reporting
The IRS publishes Form 990 returns and makes bulk downloads available for public inspection, and other repositories (Candid/GuideStar, ProPublica) surface those filings for researchers and donors, but the search results provided are instructions and portals rather than a compiled, filtered list of which major charities exceed an 80% program ratio [1] [2] [3].
2. What “program expense ratio” means on a Form 990 and where to find it
Program expense ratio is computed from the Form 990’s expense breakdown (program services versus management/general and fundraising) reported on Part IX/Statement of Functional Expenses and summarized in total expenses; the blank forms and instructions that show where total program and functional categories are reported are available from the IRS [7] [8] [6].
3. How to locate an organization’s most recent Form 990
Researchers can download an organization’s latest Form 990 from the IRS bulk download pages or use data services such as Candid/GuideStar and ProPublica that index and display 990 filings; the IRS also documents filing obligations so users understand which organizations file full 990s versus 990‑EZ or 990‑N [1] [2] [9].
4. Practical caveats when using Form 990s to compute ratios
Allocations on the Form 990 are nuanced: nonprofits classify expenses into program, management and fundraising categories according to accounting judgment and guidance; watchdogs caution that simple “overhead” percentages can be misleading because different sectors and activities produce different normal ratios [5] [4] [10].
5. The benchmark and its limits
The 80% program / 20% overhead rule has evolved as an industry benchmark and appears in sector guidance, but the IRS does not enforce any minimum; relying solely on an 80% cutoff without context (size, mission, fundraising model) risks false positives and ignores legitimate functional costs that support programs [4] [5] [6].
6. How a reporter or donor would assemble a definitive list
A definitive list of “major” U.S. nonprofits with >80% program expense ratios would require (a) defining “major” (by revenue, assets, or public profile), (b) pulling each organization’s most recent Form 990 from IRS downloads or Candid/ProPublica and (c) calculating program expenses divided by total expenses from Part IX — a reproducible approach since the data fields and bulk files are publicly available [1] [2] [7].
7. What the provided sources allow and what they don’t
The supplied sources explain filing thresholds, where to find Form 990s, and the conceptual limits of overhead metrics — they enable how to find and compute program ratios but do not themselves list specific current ratios for major charities, so this analysis cannot truthfully name which organizations meet the >80% criterion without additional data extraction [8] [9] [3].
8. Bottom line for someone trying to verify claims about a charity’s program ratio
Do not accept headline claims without verifying against the charity’s actual Form 990: retrieve the organization’s latest Form 990 from the IRS bulk downloads or Candid/ProPublica, compute program expenses ÷ total expenses from the functional expense schedule, and interpret the result alongside mission, sector norms, and expense‑allocation notes on Schedule O [1] [2] [7] [10].