Congressional Management Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
521076614
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2025460100
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Government and Public Administration

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,508,576
Expenses
$1,368,694
Assets
$820,101
Liabilities
$428,209

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

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JENNIFER DAULBY (PRESIDENT & CEO)
  • BRADFORD FITCH (FORMER PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • BRADFORD FITCH (FORMER PRESIDENT & CEO): $225,662 total reported compensation
  • SARAH THOMSON (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $114,880 total reported compensation
  • JENNIFER DAULBY (PRESIDENT & CEO): $95,822 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Non-partisan organization dedicated to helping congress become a more productive and effective institution through better management. The organization also educates and trains citizens on effectively communicating with elected officials.

What it reported doing in 2024

Democracy awards - cmf conducts an annual awards program. The democracy awards are presented to congressional offices, allowing the staff to share in the credit for the acheivement and recognizing the reality that a degree of success for members of congress is due to the employees they hire and manage. By creating an awards system, cmf seeks to: recognize and applaud legislators and staff who truly deserve acknowledgement for their best practices in the service of the congress; provide examples for congressional colleagues to emulate, thereby enhancing the entire institution; enhance and improve public understanding and trust in congress. Through this program, cmf identifies best practices in public service and disseminates those practices throughout the congress.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 67
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 39
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 68.7%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 75.3%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.45 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 9.3%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.6; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.52; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 31.9%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.3% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 68.7% of revenue deployed · 75.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $226K · 18 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 36/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 28/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 15/100.