Collegebound Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
521598921
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Baltimore, MD, USA
Phone
4107813676
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$8,367,261
Expenses
$8,854,813
Assets
$61,450,595
Liabilities
$4,446,194

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

Leadership & pay

37 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CATHERINE MOTZ (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • CATHERINE MOTZ (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $217,942 total reported compensation
  • JENNIFER COVAHEY (DIRECTOR OF COLLEGE SUCCES): $131,848 total reported compensation
  • KRISTI LYNN STRAIGHT (DIRECTOR OF ACCOUNTING): $105,999 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Collegebound empowers baltimore city schools' students to successfully pursue and complete a college degree or other post-secondary options. As a trusted advocate for city-wide college access, retention, and graduation, we provide advising, financial guidance, scholarships and other resources.

What it reported doing in 2024

To encourage and enable baltimore city public school students to pursue a postsecondary education by providing counseling through its college advising program and financial resources, providing scholarships and last dollar grant awards to students.

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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 93
  • Sustainability: 48
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 88%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.77 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 96.7%; rating input score 97; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -5.8%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.94; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.1%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.5% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 88% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 29 of 30 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $7.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $218K · 37 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 40/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 19/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 52/100.