Communication Service For The Deaf Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
460332149
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Austin, TX, USA
Phone
8336827630
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Deaf/Hearing Impaired Centers

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$28,600,020
Expenses
$25,581,133
Assets
$30,295,717
Liabilities
$4,176,941

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Christopher Soukup (Chief Executive Officer)
  • Amanda Whyrick (President, California Connect)
  • Eric Lima-Gomez (Vice President, People & Culture)
  • Jeff Best (Vice President, Strategic Initiatives)
  • Lakshmi Ponappa (Executive Director, Deaf Organizations Fund)
  • Rosa Timm (President, Social Venture Fund)

Highest reported compensation

  • Christopher Soukup (Chief Executive Officer): $407,847 total reported compensation
  • Anna Wilson (Chief Legal Officer): $207,885 total reported compensation
  • Thomas Means (Chief Financial Officer): $192,310 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Csd's mission is to provide greater opportunities for access, independence and awareness for all individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. Through global leadership and a continuum of quality communication services and human services programs, csd provides the tools conducive to a positive and fully integrated life. Csd is a deaf-led social impact organization with the mission of identifying and cultivating opportunities for deaf people to achieve success through multiple approaches - service delivery, communication solutions, innovation engineering, impact investing, and community building.

What it reported doing in 2024

Csd primarily focuses on providing accessible communication technologies and services to the deaf and hard of hearing communities, including accessible information and resources to healthcare, education, and workforce, and collaboratively with deaf-led organizations to advocate better and long-term widespread impact.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 97% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 93
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 57
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 73.2%; rating input score 73
  • Program expense ratio: 83.5%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.31 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • 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: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th 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: 10.6%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.18; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.14; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.4%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.7% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -2.4% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.1% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 73.2% of revenue deployed · 83.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $21.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $408K · 17 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.5M reported
  • Consistency: 43 of 44 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 18 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 8 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 13/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 42/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 39/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.