Aurora Sentinel Community Media

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
921674478
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022
Location
Aurora, CO, USA
Rating
63
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Printing, Publishing

Reported finances

Revenue
$813,694
Expenses
$683,945
Assets
$50,491
Liabilities
$633,030

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BRITTANY WINKFIELD (President & CEO)

People named in this filing

  • JOVAN MAYS (Director)
  • BRITTANY WINKFIELD (President & CEO)
  • MICHELLE ANCELL (Director)

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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Aurora Sentinel Community Media ( ASCM ) is organized and operated to strengthen informed participation in local democracy by educating, informing and advancing public discourse through local, independent journalism in and about Aurora, Colorado. As its primary activity, ASCM intends to produce, print, and distribute (both in print and digitally) The Sentinel Newspaper, which will report factual information that is informational and educational to the citizens of Aurora Colorado, and operate in a manner consistent with tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3).

What it reported doing in 2025

As its primary activity, ASCM intends to produce, print, and distribute (both in print and digitally) The Sentinel Newspaper, which will report factual information that is informational and educational to the citizens of Aurora Colorado, and operate in a manner consistent with tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3).

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 88% 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. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 0
  • Sustainability: 41
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78%; rating input score 78
  • Program expense ratio: 92.8%; rating input score 93
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.88 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 27; 27th 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: 0%; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 15.9%; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.07; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 12.54; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -9.6% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 39.2% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 25.4% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 78% of revenue deployed · 92.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 6 board members independent · 0 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $634K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 27/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 0/100.