How much of Tunnel to Towers' revenue is spent on fundraising annually?
Executive summary
Publicly available watchdog and charity summaries show Tunnel to Towers spends the vast majority of its cash expenses on programs: CharityWatch reports 93% to programs (7% overhead) [1], while Charities for Veterans calculates 90.4% to programs and 9.6% overhead from the 2023 return on a $272 million budget [2]. Detail-by-detail line items (dollars spent specifically on fundraising each year) are not provided in the supplied excerpts; ProPublica hosts the tax returns where those line-item figures would appear but the current snippets do not quote them directly [3].
1. Fundraising is a small share of reported overhead, per independent reviewers
Independent charity evaluators present Tunnel to Towers as keeping fundraising and administrative costs low: CharityWatch’s analysis states the foundation spends 93% of its cash expenses on programs and 7% on overhead, implying combined fundraising and management are a small slice [1]. Charities for Veterans, using the 2023 Form 990, reaches a similar conclusion—90.4% to programs and 9.6% overhead on a $272 million budget—again indicating fundraising is a minority share of total expenses [2].
2. What the figures mean—and what they don’t say about fundraising efficiency
Percentages to “programs” versus “overhead” aggregate fundraising with administrative costs; neither CharityWatch’s headline percentage nor the Charities for Veterans summary isolate fundraising alone in the provided excerpts [1] [2]. Charity Navigator’s materials explain that fundraising efficiency is commonly measured as fundraising expense divided by contributions (dollars spent to raise $1), and that metric would identify how much Tunnel to Towers spends specifically to generate revenue—but the search snippets do not include a fundraising-efficiency ratio for Tunnel to Towers [4].
3. Primary sources exist but are not quoted here—tax returns hold the granular answer
ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer aggregates IRS Form 990 filings (which list fundraising expense lines and total revenue), and the site is cited for Tunnel to Towers in the search results; those filings are the definitive public source to calculate exact dollars spent on fundraising each year [3]. The current search snippets reference ProPublica’s database but do not extract a specific fundraising dollar figure from Tunnel to Towers’ returns [3]. Therefore, the precise annual dollar amount spent on fundraising is available in filings but not in these excerpts.
4. The foundation’s own materials emphasize keeping overhead low
Tunnel to Towers’ own FAQ and accountability fact sheet highlight policies to limit overhead and fundraising costs, noting “only a small percentage of funds allocated to overhead expenses” and that the foundation “keeps fundraising and administrative costs at a minimum” [5] [6]. Those statements align with third‑party ratings but are organizational claims rather than independent line‑item accounting in the provided snippets [6].
5. Multiple evaluators reach similar, though not identical, conclusions
CharityWatch gives an “A+” rating and the 93% program percentage [1]. Charities for Veterans’ independent calculation of the 2023 return shows 90.4% program spending on a $272 million budget [2]. Charity Navigator explains how fundraising-efficiency metrics work and hosts the charity profile, but the snippet does not present its calculated fundraising percentage or dollars for Tunnel to Towers [4]. The consistency across evaluators strengthens the conclusion that fundraising is a modest portion of expenses, but the exact dollar amount differs by year and requires direct Form 990 inspection [1] [2] [4].
6. How a reader can get the exact annual fundraising dollar figure
To compute the precise dollars Tunnel to Towers spends on fundraising in a given year, inspect the foundation’s IRS Form 990 (fundraising expense lines) or ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer entry for the organization, which archives those filings [3]. CharityWatch and Charities for Veterans provide summarized ratios and percentages that indicate magnitude but do not substitute for the Form 990’s line‑item totals in the provided excerpts [1] [2].
Limitations and caveats
Available sources do not mention a single consistent dollar figure for “annual fundraising spend” in the excerpts provided; summary ratings show fundraising is a small share of total expenses but do not isolate year‑by‑year fundraising dollars here [1] [2] [3]. Independent evaluators may use different methodologies (cash expenses vs. total budget) which explains small differences between 93% and 90.4% program percentages [1] [2].