Fearless Dialogues Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
471853840
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2015
Location
Atlanta, GA, USA
Phone
4049135882
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Civil Rights

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$577,683
Expenses
$834,236
Assets
$361,340
Liabilities
$166,021

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Gregory Ellison II (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Gregory Ellison II (President): $160,700 total reported compensation
  • Theodore Florence (CFO/COO): $150,900 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

We hope to interrupt cycles of marginalization, and to foster strong communities for the common good, by creating spaces for unlikely partners to engage in transformative conversations that change the way people see themselves and the world in which they live.

What it reported doing in 2024

The signature Fearless Dialogues model utilizes a unique combination of radical hospitality, interactive exercises, small-group discussion, large group reflection, and high-impact theory-based mini lectures on diversity and inclusion, implicit bias, and conflict transformation. Recognizing the sensitivity of the subject matter and the diversity of perspectives, this fusion of teaching approaches appeals to participants across generational, cultural, educational, racial and class lines. To date, Fearless Dialogues has served over 60,000 people, helping them to cultivate cultures of change in their respective communities.Fearless Dialogues creates spaces for transformation like none other. It's our niche. Radical hospitality lessens anxiety, reduces power differences, and levels the playing field for hard conversations to occur. Artistic mediums, including visual art, spoken word poetry, and live music, reframe sterile and hostile environments into spaces for lively and engaging interaction. Theory and research-based exercises (called 'experiments') heighten awareness, enhance vulnerable truth-sharing, and foster connections.Three Pillars - SEE. HEAR. CHANGE.We believe that until you SEE a person as a whole being, you will be unable to HEAR the person's story as valuable and potentially informative. Community members who do not see and hear each other as persons of worth are unable to collaborate and work toward CHANGE. Fearless Dialogues bridges the gap by creating spaces to see the invisible, hear the silenced, and work for change for self and other.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 69% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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 most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 59
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 10
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 84.4%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.83 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: -44.4%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.43; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.46; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 37.4%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 18.9% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10.7% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 84.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $704K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $161K · 8 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 23 of 24 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 12/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 17/100.