Debt Education and Certification Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 202870155
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Benbrook, TX, USA
- Phone
- 8668597323
- Rating
- 60
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Financial Counseling
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,266,119
- Expenses
- $2,132,553
- Assets
- $1,993,613
- Liabilities
- $859,763
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DOUG TONNE (PRESIDENT / CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- DOUG TONNE (PRESIDENT / CEO): $224,678 total reported compensation
- NAT HOLT (CFO): $90,108 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Attachment 1
What it reported doing in 2025
Attachment 2
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 98% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- 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 most voting board members are independent. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and revenue has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 55
- Transparency & Controls: 66
- Accountability: 84
- Sustainability: 35
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 59.8%; rating input score 60
- Program expense ratio: 63.7%; rating input score 64
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 16th 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: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Fail
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 5.9%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.93; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.43; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 14.8%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -6.1% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -4.2% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -1.3% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 59.8% of revenue deployed · 63.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $225K · 6 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2012 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 45/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Audit committee oversight not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.