Beneficent Technology Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
770555413
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Palo Alto, CA, USA
Phone
6506443400
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Developmentally Disabled Centers

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$12,656,190
Expenses
$11,373,775
Assets
$3,414,402
Liabilities
$1,052,363

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

29 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • AYAN KISHORE (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • AYAN KISHORE (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $345,303 total reported compensation
  • MATTHEW YIP (VP PRODUCT & ENGINEERING): $238,953 total reported compensation
  • JOHN BRUGGE (ENGINEERING MANAGER): $230,048 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Benetech is improving education access through its technology, programs and services, catering to the 1 in 5 students who have disabilities or learn differently. Benetech believes that access to education is a human right, regardless of differences or disability. Students with learning differences and disabilities around the world face barriers to education and may not receive adequate instruction, forced to end their education early, or be limited to certain subjects since accessible materials are not available for subjects such as math or chemistry. Benetech is working with schools, governments, community, and public sector organizations to provide digital literacy and access to learning materials for students with learning disabilities such as dyslexia and disabilities ranging from visual impairments to physical limitations.

What it reported doing in 2024

Accessible education content and technology: benetech has been delivering inclusive learning solutions for over 20 years as the developer of bookshare, the world's largest service for accessible education materials. Benetech is transforming how educational content is made accessible through initiatives like bookshare and its global certified accessible (gca) program. Through the bookshare platform, benetech provides the world's largest online service for accessible e-books delivering more than 20 million e-books and materials that have served over 1.5 million learners. Benetech bookshare members read books in formats that work best for them, whether it be audio, typography manipulation, word highlights synced with audio and so on through the browser, mobile applications or other assistive technology (at) of choice. Benetech's goal for all learners is to improve literacy and foster a love for life-long learning. Benetech continues to scale and innovate, including taking on the next frontier of learning content by making stem accessible for all learners. The born accessible, gca initiative continues to drive system change in the publishing industry, partnering with publishers to make books accessible when they are created.inclusive education capacity building and community engagement: benetech is deepening its impact by working closely with community-based organizations, schools, districts and more, to identify and provide students and those serving them, such as after school programs, the support they need. Domestically, benetech is expanding its local outreach programs across urban and rural communities in need, such as atlanta, albuquerque, detroit, las vegas and memphis, and are building a model for place-based change to close learning gaps. Benetech serves learners in over 90 countries directly or through partners and provide capacity building services for inclusive education and education for students with disabilities, particularly in low and middle income countries. Benetech supports schools for digital transformation to embrace inclusive education through digital literacy and digital pedagogy. Benetech provides training and technical assistance to educators to effectively use accessible content and technology.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 69% 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 most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 54
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 70.2%; rating input score 70
  • Program expense ratio: 78.1%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $22.66 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 10.1%; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.3; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.31; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 21.3%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.5% per year; rating input score 100; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.1% per year; rating input score 100; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.9% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 70.2% of revenue deployed · 78.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $8.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $345K · 29 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.3M reported
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2014 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 11 filed money-flow records
  • 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: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 7/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 45/100.