Earthscope Consortium

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
521362650
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
4063708482
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Research Institutes and Public Policy Analysis

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$45,425,960
Expenses
$44,727,109
Assets
$8,140,348
Liabilities
$4,868,847

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

Leadership & pay

22 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BENDICK REBECCA (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
  • CHARLEVOIX DONNA (VICE PRESIDENT, ENGAGEMENT)
  • MATTIOLI GLEN (VICE PRESIDENT, GEODETIC I)
  • MENCIN DAVID (VICE PRESIDENT, DATA SERVI)

Highest reported compensation

  • BENDICK REBECCA (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $379,681 total reported compensation
  • MENCIN DAVID (VICE PRESIDENT, DATA SERVI): $287,289 total reported compensation
  • BURKE JUDITH MARGARET (CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFIC): $273,783 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Facilitating geophysical research and education, promoting free and open exchange of geophysical data and knowledge, fostering cooperation to advance geophysical reseach and conveying its benefits to all of humanity.

What it reported doing in 2024

Instrumentation services include both the maintenance of continuous networks and pools of instruments for use in individual experiments. The global seismographic network (gsn) is a 152 station, globally distributed, state-of-the-art digital seismic network that provides free, realtime, open access to data. The earthscope primary instrument center supports cutting-edge research into earth's fundamental geological structure and processes. The facility provides instrumentation and support services for scientific experiments around the world. The network of the americas (nota) is an international geophysics sensor network spanning more than 20 countries and composed of more than 1,200 continuously operating instruments, including high-precision and multi-constellation gnss stations and borehole strain, seismic, and tilt instruments. Earthscope polar services installs, maintains, and operates several instrumentation networks and experiments in antarctica, greenland, and the arctic.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 97% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 95% 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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 76
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.4%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 86.8%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Pass
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Pass
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

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: 1.5%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.18; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.6; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.6%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.6% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.2% per year; rating input score 100; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.1% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.4% of revenue deployed · 86.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $38.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $380K · 22 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.7M reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 18 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 8 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.

  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 5 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 4/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 40/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 22/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 45/100.