Econ Job Market Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
260674706
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020, Form 990-N 2010
Location
San Diego, CA, USA
Phone
8585346132
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Management & Technical Assistance

Reported finances

Revenue
$224,185
Expenses
$224,216
Assets
$464,695
Liabilities
$7,553

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Joel Watson (CEO & CIO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Martin Osborne (Secretary & CIO): $30,000 total reported compensation
  • MICHAEL LOWRY (CFO & CIO): $1,934 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Econ Job Market Inc. promotes the efficient exchange of information related to job postings, applications and letters of recommendation for the academic job market. Econ Job Market Inc. serves the community of academic economists and organizations that hire them, primarily non-profit institutions.

What it reported doing in 2024

Over 400 recruiting organizations (mostly nonprofit colleges and universities) use the ECON JOB MARKET program to announce job openings and/or collect applications. ECON JOB MARKET Inc. promotes efficient exchange of job-market materials. THE ORGANIZATION HAS DEVELOPED A SET OF RELATED PROGRAMS IN FURTHERANCE OF THIS PURPOSE. THE MAIN PROGRAM IS ENTITLED, CENTRAL REPOSITORY FOR APPLICATION MATERIALS. THIS PROGRAM MAINTAINS A REPOSITORY FOR JOB-POSTINGS, APPLICATIONS, AND LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION FOR THE ACADEMIC ECONOMICS JOB MARKET. OTHER PROGRAMS PROVIDE ANCILLARY SERVICES SUCH AS DATA TRANSFER TO RECRUITMENT SYSTEMS AND A PLATFORM FOR SCHEDULING INTERVIEWS. THE PROGRAMS ARE FUNDED MAINLY BY DONATIONS IN KIND, NAMELY HOURS OF SERVICE BY NUMEROUS VOLUNTEERS (INCLUDING DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS). ALSO, REVENUE IS GENERATED BY FEES THAT SOME OF THE RECRUITING ORGANIZATIONS AND CANDIDATES PAY.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 100% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 41% for direct work, and 59% for grants.

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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 72
  • Accountability: 62
  • Sustainability: 44
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92.6%; rating input score 93
  • Program expense ratio: 92.6%; rating input score 93
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 24th 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: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -0%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.07; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.2%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.2% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.6% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16.6% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 92.6% of revenue deployed · 92.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 9 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $208K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $30K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes foreign activity and grants
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 39/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.