Foundations Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
521801849
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Mount Laurel, NJ, USA
Phone
8565331600
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$11,652,585
Expenses
$10,577,958
Assets
$6,988,060
Liabilities
$815,975

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

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • RHONDA H LAUER (PRESIDENT AND CEO)
  • DAVID MCCONNELL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SPECIAL PROJECTS)

Highest reported compensation

  • RHONDA H LAUER (PRESIDENT AND CEO): $315,412 total reported compensation
  • MICHAEL PIAZZA-SUGARMAN (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $193,115 total reported compensation
  • MARYELLEN GORODETZER (CHIEF EDUCATION & INNOVATION OFFICER): $177,689 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Foundations is dedicated to improving the quality of education for our nation's most vulnerable children by strengthening the skills of educators through professional learning. Foundations, inc. Is a not-for-profit educational service organization committed to building the quality of educational opportunities for children, youth, and families in underserved communities through work with public charter schools, school districts, education and community-based organizations, and afterschool program providers. The organization focuses on capacity-building through professional learning, technical assistance, program development, supporting tools, and services. The organization receives its support from various sources including foundation grant programs, government grants, performance contracts, product sales, contributions from foundations, and conference fees.

What it reported doing in 2024

School services - the office of education and innovation provided school-wide professional learning systems, leadership and instructional coaching, curriculum review and redesign, interim school leadership and special education program support to 28 charter and district schools, serving over 20,000 students. In 2025, we provided virtual as well as in-person professional learning and coaching sessions to thousands of educators, primarily in the mid-atlantic region of the country. We also expanded highly effective professional learning sessions for paraeducators in an effort to support the needs of special education students. Our team designed and implemented new teacher inductions programs as well as teacher supervision and evaluation tools and processes. We supported numerous charter schools as they worked to achieve charter renewal status. The office of education and innovation team supported the design and development of instructional programs for numerous grant proposals and implemented and expanded the "academy at penn" program, a college and career readiness model serving one hundred first generation college- bound students in philadelphia.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 67% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 94
  • Sustainability: 47
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84.2%; rating input score 84
  • Program expense ratio: 92.4%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • 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: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 21st 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: 9.2%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.66; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.7%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.8% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 84.2% of revenue deployed · 92.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 9 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $9.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $315K · 18 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $383K reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 9 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.