The Heritage Foundation is a charity

From the Heritage Foundation's About page:

The Heritage Foundation’s focus isn’t on putting more power into the hands of government—it’s on returning power to the people. That’s why we don’t work on behalf of any special interest or political party. Instead, our commitment is to the American people...

And in the Heritage Foundation's two-year-old (undated) "What This Election Day Means for Conservatives", in an interview with Michelle Cordero of the Heritage Foundation, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts describes himself as "leading a nonpartisan entity". Presumably, the nonpartisan entity to which Kevin Roberts refers is the Heritage Foundation. So the Heritage Foundation is at least presumably nonpartisan. Or they want us to think that it is. 

Wikipedia says

Heritage is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization and BBB Wise-Giving Alliance-accredited charity...

A what?

 

According to the State Department,

The Heritage Foundation is a non-profit public policy research institute...

The BBB Wise-Giving Alliance lists the Heritage Foundation twice on their Alphabetical List of Charities. You can include or exclude the word the in "The Heritage Foundation" and you get the same charity organization either way: Here is the image, as the page may change in June 2025.

The BBB Wise-Giving Alliance says the Heritage Foundation "Did Not Disclose" information regarding the BBB's "20 voluntary standards on matters such as charity finances, appeals, and governance."

Their boilerplate text says the Heritage Foundation

either has not responded to written BBB requests for information or has declined to be evaluated in relation to BBB Standards for Charity Accountability. Charity participation in BBB review is voluntary. However, without the requested information, it is not possible to determine whether this charity adheres to all of the BBB Standards for Charity Accountability.

Evidently the Heritage Foundation doesn't care about the BBB standards for charity accountability.

Candid Learning says

Organizations that qualify as public charities under Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3) are eligible for federal exemption from payment of corporate income tax. Once exempt from this tax, the nonprofit will usually be exempt from similar state and local taxes. If an organization has obtained 501(c)(3) tax exempt status, an individual's or company's charitable contributions to this entity are tax-deductible.

And at Heritage, the fine print on the "Donate to the Heritage Foundation" page says

"The Heritage Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and charitable contributions are tax-deductible for income, gift and estate taxes."

and that their "sister" organization

Heritage Action for America is a section 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization under the Internal Revenue Code. As such, contributions to Heritage Action for America are not tax deductible as charitable contributions.

 

Rating the Heritage Foundation, Charity Navigator says

This charity's score is 99%, earning it a Four-Star rating. If this organization aligns with your passions and values, you can give with confidence.

I didn't click it, but the same page has a bright red button that says "Donate". Apparently, after assuring yourself that the Heritage Foundation is a "Four-Star Charity" you can donate without even leaving the page.

There's something fishy about that. It's like the page, really, was set up to get donations rather than to verify the trustworthiness of charity organizations. I didn't get that feeling from the BBB Wise site, by the way.

Under "How We Rate Charities" the Charity Navigator says

Two objectives drive our approach to rating charities: helping donors and celebrating the work of charities.

Back on the page where Charity Navigator gave Heritage Foundation the Four Star rating, under "Rating Information" they say

This overall score is calculated from multiple beacon scores, weighted as follows: 93% Accountability & Finance, 7% Culture & Community.

Not much weight on culture and community. I can guess that Heritage is very good at using rich donor's money, but not at all committed to respecting the way of life of the American people.

But hey, it's not all bad news. According to one link,

TikTokers are urging people to report the conservative think tank behind Project 2025 to the Internal Revenue Service for allegedly violating the rules of its tax-exempt status.