Firefighters Support Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
261903852
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2019
Forms available
Form 990 2019
Location
Marlborough, MA, USA
Phone
4133768130
Rating
64
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fire Prevention

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$61,648
Expenses
$240,701
Assets
$0
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DAVID KENIK (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • DAVID KENIK (PRESIDENT): $83,333 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The exempt purpose of the firefighters support foundation is to assist firefighter and rescue personnel perform their jobs effectively and safely, aid underfunded agencies, assist families of fallen firefighters in their greatest time of need and to help prevent fires and fire injuries through public awareness. We accomplish this mission through four program services areas (1) training developed with leading experts and available nationwide free of charge to help increase the safety and effectiveness of firefighters and rescue personnel (2) fire and ems equipment grant program provides cash grants for departments to purchase equipment to improve service personnel and citizen safety (3) survivor financial grant program provides cash grants to family survivors of firefighters who have died in the line of duty (4) public fire safety awareness to educate families about important steps they can take to prevent fires and improve their safety in the event of a fire

What it reported doing in 2019

Training is consistently cited as a critical need in fire service surveys yet professional level training can be hard to come by, or expensive or both. This is why providing free training is our primary mission, and is the program area to which we devote the bulk of our funds. Fsf's primary focus is on providing life-saving, injury preventing, and other valuable training to firefighters, emergency medical technicians (emts), search and rescue personnel (s&r), first responders, and emergency management (em) personnel. We produce our own first responder specific training programs on critical issues and distribute them free of charge to these professionals. Fsf programs are used by agencies nationwide. We currently offer programs in four areas. Core subjects, emerging issues, advance topics and mental wellness. Programs are developed and taught by academy level instructors with significant experience in their fields. Our programs provide turnkey training for individuals and agencies. Our traning programs are designed to be used by both individual service members and by agency trainers. They generally include a video and powerpoint presentation. These programs provide turnkey training. Indviduals can view the programs at their leisure, while agencies can use the powerpoint slides as distributed notes, run the video presentation, and pause the video to discuss the material in this way. The training is consistent from session to session. Trainer time is greatly reduced and the training is completely documented. Training briefs address topics of current interest and can usually be reviewed and presented in under an hour. They are offered as downloadable documents in powerpoint or pdf format. There are seven training programs that have been introduced. We continue our strong relationship with fire engineering com (ef com), the "go-to" place for training information in the fire service. Thousands of firefighters, fire trainers, ems, search and rescue, first responder, and emergency management personnel viewed and downloaded our programs. We confidently believe that the actual number of public safety personnel using the material was several times higher because this material is used for department wide training sessions. In addition to the exposure we received on fireengineering com, our press releases about new programs are picked up by several leading fire, ems, public safety, and police magazines and websites, as well as re-transmitted to industry lists. Finally, as a testimonial to our programs' web presence, fsf was the number one google return when searching for "free firefighter training" for much of the year.

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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 52
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 6
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78.2%; rating input score 78
  • Program expense ratio: 20.9%; rating input score 21
  • Fundraising efficiency: $1.12 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -290.4%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 34.6%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -9.4% per year; rating input score 0; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -10.5% per year; rating input score 0; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -1.9% per year; rating input score 0; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 78.2% of revenue deployed · 20.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $50K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $83K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 18 of 18 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2012 to 2019
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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: Program expense ratio scored 21/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 16/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 2/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.