Contemporary Learning Systems Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
262466684
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2012–2015
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2015
Location
East Lansing, MI, USA
Phone
5173326265
Rating
89
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$91,061
Expenses
$68,724
Assets
$1,085

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2015. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DR GEORGE COLBURN (PRESIDENT,TR)

People named in this filing

  • DR GEORGE COLBURN (PRESIDENT,TR)
  • DR LEWIS CARLSON (SEC)
  • ROBERT ALBERS (DIRECTOR)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2015. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The company is a public benefit Michigan nonprofit corporation formed exclusively for educational purposes. The mission of the company is to create and distribute nationally media based educational programs and products for schools, colleges and universities. Specifically, the company plans to focus on development of educational programs and products that can be distributed via the various "new media" spawned by the internet.

What it reported doing in 2015

To create and distribute nationally media based educational programs and products

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 81% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75.5%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 24.5%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.02; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 21.1%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 18.1% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 34.9% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 20.5% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 75.5% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $69K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2012 to 2015
  • 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 — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.