How much did Tunnel to Towers allocate to programs versus administrative costs in 2024?
Executive summary
Tunnel to Towers publicly emphasizes minimal overhead and high program spending, but the specific, independently reported split for fiscal year 2024 is not directly stated in the available documents; the most concrete, reputable figure in the provided reporting is CharityWatch’s analysis showing 93% of cash expenses to programs and 7% to overhead for fiscal 2022, and Charity Navigator’s methodology indicates Tunnel to Towers’ program ratio is calculated as an average across recent IRS filings rather than a single-year snapshot [1] [2] [3].
1. What the organization says about 2024 allocations
Tunnel to Towers’ own financial materials and public statements repeat a consistent claim that the foundation “keeps fundraising and administrative costs at a minimum” and tout a high program service percentage for 2024, but the snippets provided do not include a concrete numeric breakdown for that year in the excerpts supplied here, leaving the organization’s textual claim without a single-year, line‑item percentage in these sources [4] [5] [6].
2. The independent, verifiable benchmark available
CharityWatch’s analysis—cited repeatedly in reporting about the foundation—calculates that Tunnel to Towers spent 93% of its cash expenses on programs and 7% on overhead in the fiscal year 2022, based on its review of IRS Form 990 and audited financial statements; that 93/7 split is the clearest, independently derived number in the provided reporting but it refers to 2022, not 2024 [1] [2].
3. How evaluators derive program vs. overhead ratios
Charity Navigator and other evaluators typically compute program expense ratios using program expenses divided by total expenses averaged across the most recent three years of IRS Form 990 filings, which means a high rating signals consistently high program spending over multiple years rather than a single-year figure for 2024; Charity Navigator’s methodology is explicitly described as a three-year average in the sources provided [3] [7].
4. What the 2024 tax filing references show (and do not show)
ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer indicates Tunnel to Towers had an IRS filing dated Nov. 14, 2024, and that the Dec. 2024 tax filing exists in the database, but the specific program-versus-administrative dollar amounts or percentages for fiscal 2024 are not quoted in the ProPublica snippet provided here, so that primary-source filing would need to be opened directly for a precise 2024 single‑year split [8].
5. Reconciling message, ratings and reality
Taken together, the organization’s repeated claim of “minimal” overhead is corroborated by third-party charity evaluators’ positive ratings and past analyses (CharityWatch A+/A+ type ratings and Charity Navigator four‑star mentions), but the available independent numeric breakdown in the provided reporting ties most concretely to 2022’s 93% program / 7% overhead result rather than an explicit 2024 percentage; evaluators’ multi-year averaging practices can obscure year‑to‑year swings, and Tunnel to Towers’ own public pages reference 2024 program service percentages without printing the exact number in the excerpts supplied [2] [1] [3] [4].
6. Context, caveats and how to confirm the 2024 number
The clearest path to a definitive 2024 program vs. administrative percentage is to consult the foundation’s full fiscal 2024 IRS Form 990 and audited financial statements (the ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer listing confirms such filings exist for late 2024) or the Tunnel to Towers published 2024 audited financials/fact sheet in full; absent opening those documents, relying on CharityWatch’s rigorous 2022 analysis and Charity Navigator’s multi‑year program ratio is defensible but not a literal answer to “2024 only” [8] [1] [3].