Civic Action Project Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
834653764
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2019
Location
Watertown, MA, USA
Phone
6175843983
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$801,941
Expenses
$680,584
Assets
$213,794
Liabilities
$20,532

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • REBECCA GORDAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • REBECCA GORDAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $123,396 total reported compensation
  • GEORGE BACHRACH (VICE CHAIR): $50,000 total reported compensation
  • STEPHEN CROSBY (CHAIR): $50,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The organization's mission is to promote better policymaking and to diversify policymakers. Civic action project, inc. Trains the next generation of civic leaders and builds bridges for new strategic, public-private partnerships for innovative policies for the future.

What it reported doing in 2024

Cap collaborative: the cap collaborative brings together senior-level corporate and government leaders to foster cross-sector collaboration on public policy. Twice a year, the cap collaborative brings 20 public and private sector leaders together for 8 consecutive weeks to produce better working relationships between these leadership groups and promote the development of good public policy.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 73% for direct work, and 27% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - 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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 75
  • Sustainability: 43
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 76%; rating input score 76
  • Program expense ratio: 89.6%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $62.05 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 81; 81st 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 81.2%; rating input score 81; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 15.1%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.31; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 40.2%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 42.9% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 34.8% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 32.8% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 76% of revenue deployed · 89.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 16 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $609K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $123K · 17 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 43/100.