Common Dreams Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
203368194
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Portland, ME, USA
Phone
2077750488
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Social Science N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,666,889
Expenses
$1,459,372
Assets
$480,668
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CRAIG S BROWN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/MEMBER)

Highest reported compensation

  • CRAIG S BROWN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/MEMBER): $182,170 total reported compensation
  • KIMBERLEY MONAGHAN (CHAIR/PAID PROJ MGR): $82,207 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Common dreams provides public education on a diverse range of social, economic, and civic issues affecting individuals and their communities. Common dreams provides access to information on progressive issues, enriching public discourse, and showcasing points of view not frequently aired by commercial media. Common dreams performs online publication of news and opinion.

What it reported doing in 2024

Daily review of commercial and alternative news sources for news articles and opinion pieces. Daily posting of unedited, original opinion pieces submitted by readers. Daily posting of original and unedited press releases from a wide variety of organizations. Web site maintenance and other related internet activities necessary to its educational purpose.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 63
  • Sustainability: 48
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 72.3%; rating input score 72
  • Program expense ratio: 82.6%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $13.92 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 60%; rating input score 60; 12th 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: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 12.4%; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.33; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.1%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.4% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.4% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10.3% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 72.3% of revenue deployed · 82.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $182K · 5 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 48/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.