Community of Vermont Elders Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
030347157
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2020
Forms available
Form 990 2020
Location
Montpelier, VT, USA
Phone
8022294731
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Adult, Continuing Education

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$333,538
Expenses
$312,316
Assets
$72,842
Liabilities
$23,243

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JIM HOLWAY (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • RUBY BAKER (EXECUTIVE DI): $47,509 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To promote and protect a higher quality of life for the state's seniors. Cove advances its mission through advocacy and education. It works with and for elder vermonters and the organizations that serve them to identify, interpret, and respond to critical issues that impact the dignity, security, and well being of seniors.

What it reported doing in 2020

The largest program of the organization is Vermont senior medicare patrol (vt-smp).smp's mission and message is to prevent medicare error, fraud, and abuse. Smp seeks to empower older vermonters by increased awareness and understanding of health care programs in order for individuals to prevent, detect, and report instances of medicare error, fraud, and abuse. During the first part of the pandemic, the program shifted to offer monthly remote educational presentations, biweekly email updates, quarterly newesletters and podcasts. Network building and materals development improved program outreach, even through digital avenues. Other programs of the organization included buidling bridges to services for older vermonters. The program focuses on general scam, fraud, and exploitation prevention. Cove also engages in public policy advocacy, research, and edcuation through a contract with the firm necrason group. The firm and executive director educatioe policy makers about issues affecting elders and works with both legislators and executive branch staff to get those issues addressed. During 2020 cove published a resource guide with the support of volunteers and staff. Copies were distributed across Vermont reaching 3,000 vermonters. Additionally the guide was offered in a digital format that was downloaded and viewed hundreds of times on the cove website.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 82% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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 a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 61
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 62.3%; rating input score 62
  • Program expense ratio: 66.5%; rating input score 67
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.38 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 34; 34th 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: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 6.4%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.23; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.32; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15.2%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1.4% per year; rating input score 0; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.4% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -23.9% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 62.3% of revenue deployed · 66.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $208K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $48K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2015 to 2020
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 34/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 9/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 46/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 20/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.