A Culture of Safety Alliance Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
934873046
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2023
Location
Wilmington, DE, USA
Phone
6265780001
Rating
64
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Safety Education

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$798,103
Expenses
$567,195
Assets
$277,687
Liabilities
$46,779

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Maria Salazar-Ferro (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Elisabet Cantenys (Executive Dir.): $88,450 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The Alliance's mission is to embed a culture of safety within journalism so that independent media and journalists globally can play their essential role in upholding democracy.

What it reported doing in 2024

Over this tax year, we worked on 27 safety initiatives directly benefiting more than 500 journalists and editors in more than 40 countries. As a coalition, we always involve our network in our activities and in 2024, we work closely with more than 30 partners to implement safety initiatives globally. Our Annual Safety Coordination Meeting gathered more than 100 participants for two days to advance journalists' safety best practices. We also launched our first Editor Safety Cohort training program, reaching out to 30 editors.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 96% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 51
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 53
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 38.8%; rating input score 39
  • Program expense ratio: 54.6%; rating input score 55
  • Fundraising efficiency: $959.26 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • 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: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 28.9%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.49; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.17; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15.6%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: Limited
  • Asset growth: Limited

Details

  • Where the money goes: 38.8% of revenue deployed · 54.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $310K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $88K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 1 filing year from 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 39/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 55/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.