Families for Excellent Schools - Advocacy Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
455565952
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2017
Forms available
Form 990 2017
Location
Wilmington, DE, USA
Phone
3475279420
Rating
61
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,840,986
Expenses
$151,884
Assets
$0
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2017. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JEREMIAH KITTREDGE (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • JEREMIAH KITTREDGE (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $204,139 total reported compensation
  • KATHERINE CUNNINGHAM (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $195,093 total reported compensation
  • RESHMA SINGH (CHIEF GROWTH OFFICER): $185,127 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2017. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Families for excellent schools - advocacy, inc. ("fes-a") works to build coalitions of families and their allies and run campaigns that change education policy.

What it reported doing in 2017

Fes-a takes political action to promote changes to education policy.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 100% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 80% for direct work, and 20% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 31
  • Transparency & Controls: 81
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 47
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 3%; rating input score 3
  • Program expense ratio: 76.8%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.42 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings

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: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 95.8%; rating input score 96; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 16th 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: 96%; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 683%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 24.2% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 30.9% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -60.3% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 3% of revenue deployed · 76.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $117K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $204K · 11 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes grants and executive pay
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2014 to 2017
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 3 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: Mission deployment rate scored 3/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 37/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 0/100.