Ethics Resource Center Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
131671026
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Merrifield, VA, USA
Phone
7036472185
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Humanities Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,778,773
Expenses
$1,766,314
Assets
$1,941,903
Liabilities
$448,404

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

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • PATRICIA J HARNED PHD (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • PATRICIA J HARNED PHD (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $278,848 total reported compensation
  • SEMIHA EVREN ESEN (VP, RESEARCH & ANALYTICS): $150,420 total reported compensation
  • CAROL LEVEY (VP, MARKETING): $137,284 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 ethics & compliance initiative (eci) is a best-practice community of organizations committed to creating and sustaining high-quality ethics and compliance programs. Eci brings together ethics and compliance professionals and academics from all over the world to share techniques, research, and, most of all, exciting new ideas.eci is the leading provider of independent research about workplace integrity, ethical standards, and compliance processes and practices in public and private institutions. Our research includes the long-standing national business ethics survey (nbes) of workplace conduct in the united states and the recent global business ethics survey (gbes) of workplaces in leading world economies. Eci publishes research findings based on the gbes through various formats, including public summary reports, infographics, interactive graphics, and presentations.

What it reported doing in 2024

In 2024, erc continued to conduct research through the global business ethics survey, releasing several reports of findings and regular communications through ethicsstat emails. An online interactive database housed the research data, and erc allowed members of the public and other stakeholders to access key findings. Erc also continued to release talking the walk, a monthly case study designed to encourage conversations about important ethics and compliance issues. The organization also continued to provide support to organizations through fee-for-service consulting, involving culture assessments, training development, and assessment of ethics and compliance programs.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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 - 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 revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 62
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 65.4%; rating input score 65
  • Program expense ratio: 65.9%; rating input score 66
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.25 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 0.7%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.1; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 32.1%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.8% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.8% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 65.4% of revenue deployed · 65.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $279K · 20 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $179K reported
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 39/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 38/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 29/100.