Which IRS Form 990s exist for organizations using the name 'America First' and what do their most recent filings (post‑2020) show?
Executive summary
Three distinct U.S. tax‑exempt organizations using the name "America First" appear in IRS‑derived databases; ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer shows Form 990 filings and full returns for America First Policy Institute, America First Legal Foundation, and at least one America First Foundation/Inc entity, with available post‑2020 filings for the Policy Institute and the Legal Foundation and earlier filings for other similarly named groups [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. Public records indicate the returns contain standard Form 990 disclosures—revenues, expenses, executive compensation and schedules on relationships and grants—though the snippets provided do not list line‑by‑line dollar amounts or program details here [1] [6].
1. Who’s using the name "America First" in IRS records
ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer lists multiple organizations whose names begin with or prominently include "America First": America First Policy Institute (EIN page and full filing available), America First Legal Foundation (full filing and Schedule R pages available), and America First Foundation / America First Foundation Inc, plus an America First Works Inc entry that has at least a Schedule I on file [1] [2] [7] [8] [9]. These are distinct legal entities in the IRS data, each with its own EIN and Form 990 documents as shown on ProPublica [3] [4] [5].
2. Which filings exist post‑2020 and where they sit in the public record
ProPublica shows full Form 990 documents for America First Policy Institute with a 2023 filing available and for America First Legal Foundation with a 2023 filing and related Schedule R available [3] [4] [10]. America First Foundation Inc has a full filing dated 2020 in ProPublica’s index [5]. America First Works Inc has an itemized Schedule I visible for a 2021 filing, indicating some piece of its tax return is publicly accessible [9]. ProPublica’s platform reconstructs IRS raw data into page images and XML and links to those documents, so researchers can download the returns and schedules referenced [4] [3] [11].
3. What those most recent returns reveal in structure (and what the available snippets do not show)
Form 990s, as captured by ProPublica, routinely disclose organization names, addresses, governance, executive compensation, revenues and expenses, and specialized schedules like Schedule R (related organizations) or Schedule I (contributions to non‑charitable entities) when applicable—ProPublica’s descriptions emphasize those standard disclosures [1] [6]. The records cited indicate that the America First Policy Institute and America First Legal Foundation have complete Form 990 documents in the public archive for recent years , which by design should report income, program service revenue, grants, and officer compensation [3] [4]. However, the provided snippets do not include the numeric financials or compensation entries themselves, so this report cannot quote or summarize dollar amounts without consulting the full PDFs or XML files linked on ProPublica [11] [3].
4. Interpretation, context and possible agendas
The recurrence of the "America First" name across multiple nonprofits is consistent with a coordinated branding strategy among conservative policy and legal groups; public filings are a primary transparency mechanism for verifying whether donations flow to programs, legal advocacy, or transfers between affiliated entities—a concern highlighted by the presence of Schedule R (related organizations) for the Legal Foundation [10]. ProPublica and IRS resources emphasize that the Form 990 is used for oversight and shows executive pay and related‑party activity, making these returns useful to journalists and regulators scrutinizing organizational relationships and funding [6] [1]. Readers should note that while the existence and availability of filings are clear from ProPublica’s archive, assertions about intent or political coordination require reading the returns’ narrative sections and schedules, which are beyond the text snippets provided here [4] [3].
5. How to follow the money from here
To evaluate fundraising levels, grantmaking, staff pay and inter‑entity transfers, download the full Form 990 PDFs and XML files ProPublica links for each EIN—especially the 2023 filings for the Policy Institute and Legal Foundation and the 2020/2021 filings for the Foundation/Works entities—then inspect core pages and Schedules A, I and R where applicable [3] [4] [9]. ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer and other aggregators like GuideStar/Candid aggregate these IRS records and provide search tools for comparing revenues and officer compensation across entities [6] [12]. The IRS’s own Form 990 resources explain what each schedule discloses and why those disclosures matter for public oversight [13] [14].