Carson J Spencer Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
202545226
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2016
Forms available
Form 990 2016
Location
Littleton, CO, USA
Phone
3038378466
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Public Foundations

Reported finances

Revenue
$508,302
Expenses
$649,609
Assets
$0
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2016. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DEBORAH BRACKNEY (PAST PRESIDENT)
  • ROB SPANGLER (PRESIDENT)
  • SALLY SPENCER-THOMAS (PRIOR CEO - RESIGNED)

Highest reported compensation

  • SALLY SPENCER-THOMAS (PRIOR CEO - RESIGNED): $79,045 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2016. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

We elevate the conversation to make suicide prevention a health and safety priority. We sustain a passion for living by delivering innovative and effective suicide prevention programs for working-aged people and coaching young leaders to develop social enterprises for mental health promotion and suicide prevention.--supporting people bereaved by suicide

What it reported doing in 2016

Working minds: suicide prevention in the workplace (workingminds.org)working minds is a comprehensive and sustained approach to suicide prevention in the workplace. Collaboratively, we work with industries and companies to build strategy, enhance communication and education, engage leadership, improve policy and create skill-building training to prevent suicide. Our goals are to help agencies build protective factors, to intervene effectively when someone is at risk and to respond effectively in the aftermath of a suicide crisis. Our working minds toolkit is on the national best practice registry for suicide prevention and is designed to help managers and supervisors identify employees at risk for suicide, refer them to appropriate care, and provide safe and compassionate postventionabout man therapy: a digital mental health program for men (www.mantherapy.org)in partnership with cactus and Colorado's office of suicide prevention, the man therapy program uses humor and media to connect men and their families to facts, resources, and help in grappling with ongoing negative emotions.men complete and "18-point head inspection" to assess levels of anger, depression, substance abuse and anxiety and are then linked to an action plan for recovery.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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 total spending goes to programs and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 66
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 6
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84.7%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 54.8%; rating input score 55
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.01 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 22nd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -27.8%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.2%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -2.7% per year; rating input score 0; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -21.5% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 84.7% of revenue deployed · 54.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $356K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $79K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 28 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2011 to 2016
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 55/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 6/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 28/100.