American Fundraising Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
811160316
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2019
Forms available
Form 990 2019
Location
Maitland, FL, USA
Phone
4078958000
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Services N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$16,136,083
Expenses
$15,023,839
Assets
$13,489,394
Liabilities
$9,463,865

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • WADE GENTHER-WEST (CO-PRESIDENT)
  • BARBARA WEST (CO-PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • DEBORAH MARSHALL (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $169,062 total reported compensation
  • WADE GENTHER-WEST (CO-PRESIDENT): $130,000 total reported compensation
  • BARBARA WEST (CO-PRESIDENT): $130,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Each year, the american fundaising foundation (amfund) carefully chooses organizations to donate funds to in order to support the important mission of those organizations.leveraging more than two decades of fundraising experience, amfund also provides expert educational support and training on a wide variety of topics and offers subject matter expertise through its speaker's bureau for groups ranging in size from 12 to 500.the golden pear, prominently part of amfund's new logo, is deeply rooted in history as well as a mission. Throughout history, even before the written word, the pear has been honored as a sacred fruit signifying wisdom, prosperity, good health, longevity, and future happiness-all things amfund seeks for its nonprofit partners.

What it reported doing in 2019

As former television news anchors, our founders had learned during their careers that despite the dedication of many nonprofit organizations and their personnel, and the critical need for the goods and services they provide, vitally important and needed education focused on the needs of nonprofit organizations was generally not available to those nonprofit organizations. Amfund teaches nonprofits how to maximize the public perception of their nonprofit through the use of news media coverage, the internet including social media, public appearances, public relations, volunteer recruitment and management, and contact with known and prospective supporters at traditional fundraising events such as annual galas, fundraising dinners and participatory sporting events such as golf tournaments. Additional, critically needed unrestricted funding is often one of the direct and immediate beneficial results of amfund's work due to the nonprofit organizations newly enhanced perception as a vitally needed community asset. That recognition occurs within the community at large and especially among potential and recurring high net worth individuals/donors and grant-issuing elected and appointed government officials

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 99% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 88% 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 most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 57
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 51
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83.4%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 90.1%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $0 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 64.6%; rating input score 65; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 6.9%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.9; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.7; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.9%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 33.4% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 34% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 43.3% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 83.4% of revenue deployed · 90.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $13.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $169K · 3 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes grants and executive pay
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2016 to 2019
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 105 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 97 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 37/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.