Alternatives Counseling Services Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
112396818
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2017
Forms available
Form 990 2017
Location
Southampton, NY, USA
Phone
6312834440
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alcohol, Drug and Substance Abuse, Dependency Prevention and Treatment

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,053,380
Expenses
$1,071,630
Assets
$287,192
Liabilities
$312,905

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2017. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARGUERITE SMITH (PRESIDENT)
  • ADAM GROSSMAN (VICE PRESIDENT/SECRETARY)

People named in this filing

  • MARGUERITE SMITH (PRESIDENT)
  • JONATHAN SPIER (TREASURER)
  • ADAM GROSSMAN (VICE PRESIDENT/SECRETARY)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2017. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Alternatives' mission is to provide state of the art alcohol and drug prevention, chemical dependency and recovery services to the individuals, families and community on the east end of long island. We are dedicated to providing services that are affordable, caring, non judgmental, professional, and culturally competent.

What it reported doing in 2017

Treatment: a licensed New York state office of alcohol and substance abuse services (oasas) program to provide medically supervised outpatient chemical dependency treatment and recovery services.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 68% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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. The required major-donor schedule is missing or incomplete and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.6%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 86.1%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: No; rating input score 0
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -1.7%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.27; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.09; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -2.8% per year; rating input score 0; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3.4% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87.6% of revenue deployed · 86.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $923K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2013 to 2017
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Major donor itemization scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 29/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 14/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 6/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.