Fidelis

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
202603413
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2023
Forms available
Form 990 2023
Location
Caramel, IN, USA
Phone
3122016557
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Roman Catholic
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,521,776
Expenses
$5,782,455
Assets
$2,912,051
Liabilities
$305,678

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BRIAN BURCH (PRESIDENT)
  • JOSHUA MERCER (VICE PRESIDENT, PROGRAMS)

Highest reported compensation

  • BRIAN BURCH (PRESIDENT): $235,870 total reported compensation
  • JOHN SHERMAN (CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER): $229,630 total reported compensation
  • JOSHUA MERCER (VICE PRESIDENT, PROGRAMS): $189,910 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Fidelis is a national social welfare organization established to organize, coordinate, and mobilize grassroots civic action for catholics and all people of good will to defend life, faith and family.

What it reported doing in 2023

Fidelis is a national catholic advocacy group organized to educate and inspire every catholic in america to live out their faith in public life. Fidelis carries out this work principally through a d/b/a "catholicvote civic action or catholicvote.org" which provides catholic citizens and concerned americans critical news, commentary, educational and advocacy resources on a range of public policy questions, including the foundational issues of marriage, parental rights in education, religious liberty, economic justice, and the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death.during 2023, in furtherance of this mission, fidelis programs included over 2 million postal mailings, 198.4 million email messages, hundreds of videos and social media posts, along with television, internet and radio advertising watched and shared by millions of engaged citizens. During the year, catholicvote sought to hold public officials accountable by producing op-eds, grassroots activism, web reports, candidate scorecards, and public advocacy aimed to protect the integrity of catholic sacramental life from public officials who create division and disunity in the church.as permitted by law, a small portion of our expenditures during the year involved direct advocacy for qualified candidates during the 2023 state ballot initiative fight in Ohio, carried out through independent expenditures, not coordinated with any candidate or candidate committees. These independent expenditures included text messages, voter mobilization phone calls, and digital ads marketed to catholic voters across the state.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 17
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.1%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 66.5%; rating input score 66
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.73 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 11; 11th 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: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • 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: 80%; rating input score 80; 14th 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: -27.9%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.5; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.1%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 14.9% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 25.9% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.1% of revenue deployed · 66.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 10 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $3.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $236K · 15 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $667K reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2010 to 2023
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 11/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 17/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.