College Options Foundation Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 030566869
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Peachtree City, GA, USA
- Phone
- 8885768287
- Rating
- 66
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Student Services, Organizations of Students
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $648,915
- Expenses
- $550,366
- Assets
- $324,774
- Liabilities
- $70,851
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
4 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Terry Wilfong (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Terry Wilfong (President): $126,063 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To enrich the academic development of high school students and assist them in their preparation for higher education. Our emphasis lies with serving all families, including military families and students who participate in jrotc. To accomplish our mission we provide resources for college admissions and funding, utilize student planning guides, college exam study guides, admissions tutorials and personalized counseling, and conduct spirited academic competitions for students nationwide.
What it reported doing in 2024
The foundation organizes academic contests each year for teams of high school students. All of these contests were for members of chapters of the various junior reserve officer training corps ("jrotc") programs. These contests generally consist of multiple rounds in which the students participate remotely through an internet application. In the case of the army jrotc leadership symposium and academic bowl, the air force jrotc academic bowl, and the navy jrotc academic bowl, there is also a final round in which the top teams from the on-line competition travel to a venue for a head-to-head final round to determine the champion. The foundation provides logistical support to participants and hosts these head-to-head rounds.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 98% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 56
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 69
- Sustainability: 46
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 58.5%; rating input score 59
- Program expense ratio: 69%; rating input score 69
- Fundraising efficiency: $0.17 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 2; 2nd 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: 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: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 15.2%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.59; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.22; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 22.9%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -4.2% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -1.3% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -4.2% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 58.5% of revenue deployed · 69% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $380K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $126K · 4 people listed
- Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- 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: Mission deployment rate scored 59/100.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 2/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 30/100.