Cornerstones Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
541037615
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Reston, VA, USA
Phone
5713239555
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$14,685,255
Expenses
$15,624,273
Assets
$5,715,429
Liabilities
$3,066,975

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

Leadership & pay

33 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MS KERRIE B WILSON (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • MS KERRIE B WILSON (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $208,458 total reported compensation
  • MS HOLLY MICOZZI (CHIEF FINANCIAL & OPERATING OFFICER): $144,188 total reported compensation
  • MS MAURA WILLIAMS (EVP, HOUSING & COMMUNITY PROGRAMS): $132,716 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Together with our community, cornerstones promotes stability, empowerment, and hope through support, advocacy, and community-building for individuals and families in need. Providing more than 26,000 instances of services annually throughout fairfax and loudoun counties, cornerstones work is focused in three key areas of providing affordable housing, ensuring food security, and supporting thriving families and children.

What it reported doing in 2024

Supporting thriving children and families: cornerstones provides affordable childcare, youth development, and family strengthening programs that help children succeed and families thrive. Laurel learning center offers high-quality early childhood education, including developmental screenings, school readiness, and pre- and afterschool academic enrichment, along with full-day summer recreational and cultural programs serving nearly 100 students.for school-age youth, cornerstones delivers out-of-school time programs that support academic success and personal growth through tutoring in math and reading, career exploration, service-learning, and enrichment activities.

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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 17
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 86.6%; rating input score 87
  • Program expense ratio: 81.4%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $13.67 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • 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: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th 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: -6.4%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.37; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.54; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.4%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.6% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.8% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 86.6% of revenue deployed · 81.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 25 of 25 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $12.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $208K · 33 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $496K reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 34 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes executive pay and related organizations
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 3 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.

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

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 47/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 10/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 26/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 40/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.