A Better City Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
043036987
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Boston, MA, USA
Phone
6175026240
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Chambers of Commerce & Business Leagues

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,619,602
Expenses
$2,448,554
Assets
$3,168,418
Liabilities
$1,972,937

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

123 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KATHRYN DINEEN (PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • KATHRYN DINEEN (PRESIDENT & CEO): $354,452 total reported compensation
  • THOMAS RYAN (SR ADVSR POLICY, GOVERNMEN): $145,135 total reported compensation
  • ELIZABETH SULLIVAN (ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR): $137,118 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To engage the greater boston business community and civic institutions in developing solutions and influencing policy through research and collaboration on transportation, climate, and land issues.

What it reported doing in 2025

Membership-supported program services: the organization is a membership-based organization described in section 501(c)(6) of the internal revenue code. Its primary source of program service revenue is membership dues, which support all programmatic activities on an integrated basis. Members receive access to the organization's full platform of policy development, research, and stakeholder engagement across transportation, environment, and land use initiatives, rather than to separately priced program services. Because these activities are delivered collectively, membership dues cannot be meaningfully attributed to individual program service categories. Accordingly, such revenue is reported within membership-supported program services in part iii, which represents programmatic activities funded by general membership dues across all program areas. This category also includes certain program service expenses associated with membership activities, including personnel, communications, and other costs related to member engagement, education, and support, which are similarly not allocated to specific program service categories.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 74% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 37
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 68.5%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 74.5%; rating input score 74
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.13 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 6.5%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.29; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.62; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 41.4%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.1% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.7% per year; rating input score 100; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 68.5% of revenue deployed · 74.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 117 of 117 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $354K · 123 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $177K reported
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2015 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 47/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 43/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 12/100.