Acronym

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
821630469
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2019
Forms available
Form 990 2019
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2023605071
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$18,426,491
Expenses
$14,207,937
Assets
$6,411,505
Liabilities
$8,159

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • TARA MCGOWAN (PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • TARA MCGOWAN (PRESIDENT & CEO): $308,215 total reported compensation
  • CONNOR GAUGHAN SEE SCHEDULE O (DIRECTOR): $187,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Acronym is a digital-first social welfare organization on a mission to advance progressive issues and causes at the local, state and national levels through the development of cutting-edge digital marketing campaigns and state-of-the-art nonpartisan (continued on schedule o) government accountability advocacy, voter registration and get-out-the-vote programs.

What it reported doing in 2019

Acronym ran a number of nonpartisan voter registration and get-out-the-vote programs. Acronym also conducted paid advertising, mobilization trainings on digital media, communications and organizing for progressive organizations. These programs reached audiences across over 15 states and helped to drive civic education, engagement and action.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% 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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 76
  • Accountability: 65
  • Sustainability: 67
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 74.4%; rating input score 74
  • Program expense ratio: 96.6%; rating input score 97
  • Fundraising efficiency: $151.87 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 88; 88th 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: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Limited
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 22.9%; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.45; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.4%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 66% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 64.4% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 98.1% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 74.4% of revenue deployed · 96.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 4 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $13.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $308K · 5 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $4.7M reported
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2018 to 2019
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: 4 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 16/100.