Foundation for Thought & Ethics
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 751744350
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2013–2015
- Forms available
- Form 990 2012, Form 990-EZ 2015
- Location
- Richardson, TX, USA
- Phone
- 9726611661
- Rating
- 72
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Printing, Publishing
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $191,501
- Expenses
- $499,426
- Assets
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2015. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Jon A Buell (President)
People named in this filing
- Jon A Buell (President)
- John Foster (Treasurer)
- Boone Powell (Chairman)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2015. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Restore and expand the freedom to learn to young people
What it reported doing in 2015
Foundation for Thought Ethics promotes and publishes textbooks which emphasize positive virtues, scientific discovery, worldview, morality, and conscience.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 96% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 51% for direct work, 48% for grants, and 1% for member benefits.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 59
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 8
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 77.1%; rating input score 77
- Program expense ratio: 29.6%; rating input score 30
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -160.8%; rating input score 0; 0th 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: 0%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -0.5% per year; rating input score 0; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -32.1% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 77.1% of revenue deployed · 29.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $148K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2013 to 2015
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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: Program expense ratio scored 30/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.