Center for Reflection Education and Action Incorporated

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
061451900
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Hartford, CT, USA
Phone
8605270455
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Cultural Organizations - Multipurpose

Reported finances

Revenue
$80,446
Expenses
$155,109
Assets
$343,776
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Ruth Rosenbaum TC (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Ruth Rosenbaum TC (Executive Director): $45,000 total reported compensation
  • David Bolan (key employee): $25,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

CREA is a social-economic research and education center focusing on corporate social responsibility, human rights, labor rights, sustainable communities and direct trade, and economic analysis. CREA facilitates analysis of policies from the perspective of their effects on human lives, beginning from the lives of people and communities who are poor. Educational programs both formal and informal, as well as publications, offer opportunities to participate in this analysis.

What it reported doing in 2024

Corporate social responsibility: CREA continues to work on corporate social responsibility, focusing on issues related to supply chains around the world. These issues include, but are not limited to, preventing forced and child labor, sustainable living wages, removal of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals from production and/or inclusion in final products, and multi-stakeholder interaction on the local and investor levels. CREA collaborates with other non-governmental organizations in these efforts. CREA also continues to work on issues related to sustainable communities within the corporate responsibility work, focusing on the impact of jobs, use and misuse of natural resources, emission of waste products, etc. on the communities in which products are sourced/produced and in locations where the products are sold within the US. The impact of the business site is also a focus of the CSR work, linking it to the sustainable earth work described below.

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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 62
  • Sustainability: 29
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 67.7%; rating input score 68
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 18th 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: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: -92.8%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.22; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 45.1%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -6.8% per year; rating input score 0; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -17% per year; rating input score 0; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -11.8% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 67.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 3 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $105K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $45K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 40 of 41 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 21/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.