Autism Strong Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 813459371
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2019, Form 990-N 2016
- Location
- Charlotte, NC, USA
- Phone
- 9376204185
- Rating
- 68
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,144,037
- Expenses
- $1,230,630
- Assets
- $923,564
- Liabilities
- $-708
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Stephanie Melish Neuman (Executive Director)
- John Neuman (Vice President)
- Rudy Thoms (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Stephanie Melish Neuman (Executive Director): $115,608 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Autism Strong Foundation provides financial support, community resources, and inclusive programming to empower individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their families. Our programs promote accessibility to therapeutic services, increase autism awareness, and foster acceptance and inclusion throughout our communities.
What it reported doing in 2024
ConnectStrong - Education Conference (New in 2024) New for 2024, the ConnectStrong Education Conference was developed to provide families a low-cost event with direct access to community resources, local experts, and specialized knowledge to better support their autistic children. This full-day educational event featured two keynote speakers and 16 breakout sessions, offering parents an in-depth understanding of autism as well as practical guidance on navigating the educational, legal, behavioral, therapeutic, and special-needs systems. Connect Strong created a comprehensive learning environment where caregivers could connect with professionals, gather actionable information, and build confidence in advocating for their child? s needs. Impact (2024): 126 caregivers attended the event in its first year.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 100% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 76% of its reported program spending out as grants.
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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 72
- Transparency & Controls: 76
- Accountability: 52
- Sustainability: 24
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 82.9%; rating input score 83
- Program expense ratio: 77.1%; rating input score 77
- Fundraising efficiency: $0 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 60%; rating input score 60; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- 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: -7.6%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.75; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 9.4%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 18.5% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 32.7% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 31.6% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 82.9% of revenue deployed · 77.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 9 board members independent · 0 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 7 filed program accomplishments · $949K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $116K · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 25 of 27 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 26 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 13 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 7 of 7 not reported.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 1/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 20/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 39/100.