Delaware County Literacy Council

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
237423599
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Chester, PA, USA
Phone
6108764811
Rating
88
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,650,727
Expenses
$1,563,974
Assets
$1,139,167
Liabilities
$116,623

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • PATRICIA L RIZZO (CO-PRESIDENT (TRU 10/24))
  • DON GARFINKEL (CO-PRESIDENT (TRU 10/24))
  • MARIE FEINDT (VICE PRESIDENT (THRU 10/24))
  • COLLEEN DURAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • COLLEEN DURAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $113,003 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The organization works with adults who wish to read, write, speak and understand english, helping them to increase their communication skills and to participate more fully in society. The council uses volunteers to ensure that programs are free and accessible to everyone. During the 2024-2025 fiscal year, the literacy council served 774 adults in Delaware county of southeastern Pennsylvania. As a result of working with the literacy council, adult students achieved quantitative improvements in their lives including improved basic skills, ged attainment, employment or retained employment, u.s. Citizenship, and post-secondary education enrollment. All adults services by the literacy council improve their lives in some way including reading to children, becoming better informed citizens, and becoming engaged in their community.

What it reported doing in 2024

Dclc provides free, high quality educational services to adults throughout Delaware county, including basic and advanced skills that are transferrable to the workplace and higher education. The three largest programs are adult basic education/ged preparation, english as a second language, and workforce development. Dclc employs professional staff, a majority full-time, to provide comprehensive educational programs that align with each participant's education or career goals. Dclc also provides a 1-1 tutoring program for those who would benefit from more direct instruction. Tutors are volunteers who complete a 10-hour training created and approved by the pa dept. Of educationprior to working with students, andare supervised by dclc professional staff.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 77% 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.
  • 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: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 44
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83.5%; rating input score 84
  • Program expense ratio: 88%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $17.22 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • 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 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 5.3%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.73; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.2%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.4% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.6% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.7% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 83.5% of revenue deployed · 88% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $113K · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 54/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 51/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 33/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 46/100.