ANNUAL REPORTS

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Annual Report 2023

TransitMatters wrapped up another successful year of public transit advocacy. The theme of this year was holding public officials and policymakers accountable for their promises. This year we completed long-awaited reports, created data tools to validate riders’ experiences, relaunched our bus advocacy campaign, and so much more.

Prior to hiring our first employee, TransitMatters entered into a Fiscal Sponsorship Agreement with the Conservation Law Foundation (“CLF”) (EIN: 04-6149986). A fiscal sponsorship is a common way for a smaller non-profit group to benefit from the administrative capabilities of a larger nonprofit, including for reporting, accounting, employment and other compliance matters. Many nonprofits use the fiscal sponsorship as an alternative to obtaining a separate 501(c)(3) status. In the case of TransitMatters, we had already filed for and received our 501(c)(3), but the fiscal sponsorship allows us to keep our staff focused on our core mission while the fiscal sponsor handles most other administrative functions.

While all money donated to TransitMatters goes through CLF, who maintains our accounting and includes us on their combined 990 filing, we have, for practical reasons, maintained a separate bank account in our name that receives certain online donations that we’ve not yet been able to sync directly into CLF accounts. 100% of the money received into that account is transferred to CLF after receipt. CLF accounts for our full actual revenues and expenses in their combined 990 filings with the IRS.

Because we chose to maintain our separate 501(c)(3) as well as our Massachusetts corporate entity, we continue to meet the requirement of annual filings with the Massachusetts Secretary of State, Attorney General, and annual applicable 990-N “postcard” filing with the IRS. The financials reported on those forms properly reflects only the money actually received in our separate TransitMatters account which are reflected as having been fully zeroed when transferred to our fiscal sponsor.

Anyone reviewing the TransitMatters filings with the Massachusetts Attorney General will need to keep in mind the forgoing facts. In the interest of transparency, we've provided our first annual report above. TransitMatters is an independent organization with four full-time and and two part employees who manage our campaigns and support our ever-inspiring volunteers who in the aggregate source the vast majority of our organization’s high quality output. We are not affiliated with the MBTA, MassDOT, or any other government entity.