Riverside Park Conservancy Inc
Overview
Mission
See schedule o
What it reported doing in 2024
Design and constructionthis refers to capital improvements in the park. For 2024, these projects included reconstruction of the 106th street stairs, the installation of new fitness equipment at 151st street, the installation of new multisport court surfaces at 105th street, the installation of new wrought iron fencing at 135th street, the installation of 21 new solar powered trash receptacles in north park, the planting of new street trees along riverside drive, and the purchase of new vehicles for use by conservancy operations staff. Generally, these expenses are payments to outside contractors but may also include associated costs such as printing and copying, design drawings, signage, permit fees, and related postage.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 97% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 133443825
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2016–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- New York, NY, USA
- Phone
- 2128703070
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Single Organization Support
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $10,916,117
- Expenses
- $12,193,656
- Assets
- $7,509,749
- Liabilities
- $1,380,332
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 85
- Transparency & Controls: 75
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 23
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 95.5%; rating input score 95
- Program expense ratio: 85.5%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.13 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -11.7%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.62; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.18; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.8%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 13% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6.8% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 95.5% of revenue deployed · 85.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 26 of 26 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $10.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $303K · 29 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.7M reported
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 7 annual filings from 2016 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 32/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 52/100.
Leadership & pay
29 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- MERRITT BIRNBAUM (PRESIDENT & CEO): $303,397 total reported compensation
- ROXANNE ROTH (VP OPERATIONS): $170,360 total reported compensation
- ETHAN MILLER (CFO): $113,520 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024.