Clearpoint Financial Solutions Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
541125309
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2013
Forms available
Form 990 2013
Location
Richmond, VA, USA
Phone
8042224660
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Financial Counseling

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$16,657,625
Expenses
$19,489,573
Assets
$0
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2013. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CHRISTOPHER J HONENBERGER (PRESIDENT/CEO)
  • EUGENE M FITZ (SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT/CFO)
  • JAMES B CRAIG JR (EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT/C)

Highest reported compensation

  • CHRISTOPHER J HONENBERGER (PRESIDENT/CEO): $508,605 total reported compensation
  • MARTHA LUCEY (SENIOR VP/CHIEF EDUCATION): $152,049 total reported compensation
  • EUGENE M FITZ (SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT/CFO): $149,877 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2013. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Provide clients individualized assistance with debt management, credit counseling and credit education programs. Conduct community presentations to provide community members with information on avoiding and solving financial problems.

What it reported doing in 2013

Education initiatives - in 2013, clearpoint supported consumer requests for information, with over 600,000 unique visits to our website. The clearpoint media team achieved record numbers in 2013, strengthening our position as a trusted source for financial education and counseling. We participated in 373 media interviews that were published or broadcast 906 times. We were featured in 99 broadcast and published media interviews during the year. Highlights include interviews with the wall street journal, consumer reports, us news & world report, black enterprise, the fox business website, yahoo finance, the today show website, reverse mortgage daily, the nbc news website, nj 101.5 fm, kcpq-tv (fox), komo-tv (abc) and wsyr-tv (abc).during the spring and summer of 2013, clearpoint attended key conferences to promote financial firsts, delivering presentations at the university of California in berkeley (uc berkeley) and the university of California in los angeles (ucla). We also attended the national council of teachers of mathematics in denver and the american association of family & consumer sciences conference.many consumers struggling with student loan debt sought our help through our blogs and sites, with over 130,000 visits to our student loan counseling program.clearpoint also created customized educational materials in spanish for the 12 participating markets (austin, fresno, los angeles, miami, portland, sacramento, santa ana, san antonio, san bernardino, san diego, seattle and Washington d.c.) during four quarterly educational weeks. A total of more than 30,000 pieces were produced and shipped to each one of the 12 participating markets. All items were used to educate hispanics about financial issues in their language. More than 5,000 consumers liked our penny pincher financial education page on facebook in 2013.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 72% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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. Revenue has declined or grown slowly and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 6
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 77.6%; rating input score 78
  • Program expense ratio: 62.8%; rating input score 63
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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; 69th 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: -17%; rating input score 4; 4th 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: 5.8%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: -5.3% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -31.5% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 77.6% of revenue deployed · 62.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 7 filed program accomplishments · $12.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $509K · 17 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.1M reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2010 to 2013
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 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 — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 4/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 31/100.