College Success Foundation - District of Columbia

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
205561911
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2022071800
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Single Organization Support

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,198,573
Expenses
$3,098,114
Assets
$8,355,896
Liabilities
$1,058,130

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • James Dorsey (CEO(term 6/25))
  • Michael Cheever (CEO(hired 6/25))
  • Lester McKee (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • James Dorsey (CEO(term 6/25)): $265,852 total reported compensation
  • Michael Cheever (CEO(hired 6/25)): $245,807 total reported compensation
  • Lester McKee (Executive Director): $199,650 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Prepare low-income students to finish high school, graduate college and succeed in life.

What it reported doing in 2024

Middle Schools and High Schools Program: Beginning as early as 7th grade and continuing through college graduation, CSF-DC provides academic advising, mentoring and early college awareness through a comprehensive series of supports designed to ensure high school graduation and college admission and increase college development. The CSF-DC team provides support directly in the schools to ensure that available academic and leadership competencies are utilized and appropriately packaged. Through a unique system of integrated advisement and academic support, students are provided customized academic assistance, wraparound case management support and youth development services. The middle school and high school programs include weekly in-school academic advising and monitoring meetings; a 20-week Saturday academy in language arts, mathematics, and STEM fields; a six-week summer academic enrichment program; and college tours. Students in the high school program also receive SAT test preparation, identification of colleges of best fit, college admissions and financial support, and scholarship identification and packaging assistance.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 63% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 87% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 94.8%; rating input score 95
  • Program expense ratio: 66.9%; rating input score 67
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.74 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • 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: 80%; rating input score 80; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -40.9%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.7; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.13; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -19.7% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -4.6% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -17.2% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 94.8% of revenue deployed · 66.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 10 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $2.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $266K · 13 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 7/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 54/100.