Cornwell Research Group

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
831938558
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2019
Location
Newport News, VA, USA
Phone
7578731534
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Engineering

Reported finances

Revenue
$486,538
Expenses
$444,580
Assets
$425,456
Liabilities
$197,484

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • DAVID CORNWELL (DIRECTOR): $24,691 total reported compensation
  • NANCY CORNWELL (DIRECTOR): $4,716 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The mission of the organization is to provide quality water to all. The directors are made up of experts in the water field and especially dealing with the mission of reducing lead exposure in water to children. As needed the organization brings in other experts to solve lead issues. Large water systems have the resources to reduce lead in water, but small utilities are often left on their own and lack resources to properly evaluate lead reduction strategies. We are focused on especially assisting these small community water supplies.

What it reported doing in 2025

Current grant is for the development of a community-based lead risk and mitigation model. The objective is to further the science of risk assessment and mitigation for lead (pb) exposure, and to translate this into practices that limit or even eliminate pb exposure for drinking water consumers, especially children and pregnant women. This work will be applicable to sensitive members of the general public as well as small and large communities across the us with different water sources and varying water quality. The organization also provides research for potable water quality improvements.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 81% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 10
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.8%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 96%; rating input score 96
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 8.6%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.96; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.46; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.6%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87.8% of revenue deployed · 96% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 3 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $427K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $25K · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 54/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.