Echoing Green Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
133424419
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2126891165
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Scholarships, Student Financial Aid Services, Awards

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$12,752,182
Expenses
$18,136,468
Assets
$67,569,638
Liabilities
$6,890,335

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

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CHERYL DORSEY (PRESIDENT)
  • ELIZABETH MUELLER (VICE PRESIDENT, THOUGHT LEADERSHIP)
  • KATHLEEN DUFF (VICE PRESIDENT, DEVELOPMENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • CHERYL DORSEY (PRESIDENT): $459,050 total reported compensation
  • SHARYANNE MCSWAIN (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $372,510 total reported compensation
  • ELIZABETH MUELLER (VICE PRESIDENT, THOUGHT LEADERSHIP): $283,785 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Echoing green discovers emerging leaders and invests deeply in the growth of their ideas. For over 35 years, we've built a broad, dynamic ecosystem to support these leaders as they solve the world's biggest problems.

What it reported doing in 2024

Fellowship and alumni program: the fellowship program begins with a strategic and thoughtful global search for emerging social leaders who are from the communities they serve. Through this search process, echoing green identifies transformational leaders who are often overlooked by traditional funding sources.fellows are provided with leadership development training, wellbeing and wellness support, and join a thriving innovation ecosystem that includes more than 1000 best-in class echoing green fellows, staff, and external partners to ensure that their endeavors are sustainable well beyond the fellowship program. In supporting program alumni, echoing green provides follow-on funding grants, nearly $1.6m, in fiscal year 2025 as an additional capital investment.the signal fund is structured to make catalytic capital available to echoing green's innovative leaders who have developed their organizations over five to ten years. Signal fund bridges the capital access gap through investments that are patient, safer, and more flexible than traditional models.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 83% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 67% for direct work, and 33% for grants.

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 the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 96
  • Sustainability: 35
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 75.1%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.57 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Pass
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Pass
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.7%; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 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: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -42.2%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.73; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.3%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.8% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.8% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 20.9% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 75.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 17 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $13.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $459K · 23 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.8M reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 48 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 41 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 18/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 5 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.