Foster Success

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
455056874
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Indianapolis, IN, USA
Phone
3179178940
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Children's, Youth Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,082,104
Expenses
$4,406,626
Assets
$9,131,708
Liabilities
$1,343,664

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MAGGIE STEVENS PHD (CEO/PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • MAGGIE STEVENS PHD (CEO/PRESIDENT): $150,979 total reported compensation
  • TRAVIS TESTER MA CFRE (CHIEF DEVELOPMENT/COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER): $124,708 total reported compensation
  • MONIKA MALA PHD (CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER): $122,590 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Foster success' mission is to ensure that foster care youth are educated, housed, financially stable, employed and connected to a support system by age 25. Foster success is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that provides technical assistance to build the capacity of funders, state and local policy makers, case managers, independent living specialists and youth-serving providers to effectively support youth transitioning from foster care.

What it reported doing in 2024

Financial empowerment. Financial empowerment is the key to financial literacy and self-sufficiency. Program participants gain skills and knowledge to save money, spend wisely, and build credit and assets. They also can receive funds to match their own savings to assist them in purchasing vehicles, paying for housing, or covering other significant expenses.workforce readiness. Workforce readiness means ensuring that our young people have clear and supportive paths to good and promising jobs. Unemployment is a significant problem for those who have experienced foster care. Just 51% of current or former foster youth report being employed at age 21, compared to 61% of their non-foster care peers.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 68% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 45% for direct work, and 55% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 60
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 76.4%; rating input score 76
  • Program expense ratio: 85.5%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.25 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 13.3%; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.07; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.9% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 26.8% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 76.4% of revenue deployed · 85.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $3.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $151K · 17 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2015 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.

Key Signals

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

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 44/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 33/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 51/100.