Foundations of Success Inc

What it reported doing in 2024

Provide training and coaching: fos helps conservation teams define clear conservation goals, prioritize strategies with the greatest likelihood of success, and use practical tools and systems to support their conservation work. Fos provides training and coaching in methods and tools so that teams can learn what's working and adapt accordingly. By systematically planning and measuring, conservation teams can learn from their successes and failures and use resources more efficiently.accomplishments include:- to continue building on the accomplishments of USAID measuring impact 1 and 2 programs, environmental incentives and fos began work on two new 5-year contracts: improving design, evidence, and learning (ideal), which was intended to support USAID and its partners in the application of the USAID program cycle, and building evidence for decision making (be4d), which will support USAID and its partners in using evidence in the environmental and other sectors.- through the be4d contract, fos staff worked closely with the famine early warning systems network (fews net), which for 40 years has provided the us government and other actors with data to predict and then prevent, prepare for, and mitigate food insecurity and famines. Fos has helped develop theory of change based strategic plans for this program as it evolves to take advantage of new technologies to meet emerging challenges.- fos continued to support the usfws's combating wildlife trafficking (cwt) branch to incorporate adaptive management across their portfolio. In 2023/2024, the cwt branch used their current contract to provide access to fos's services to other groups within international affairs. As a result, fos continued supporting efforts to address tortoise and freshwater turtle (tft) trafficking and marine turtle trafficking. Fos also helped the branch to (1) reflect on their progress implanting their own strategic plan through a series of pause & reflect workshops, and (2) refine the strategic priorities for their human dimensions work.- fos provided extensive coaching and training on the application of miradi and the conservation standards to the san diego zoo wildlife alliance (sdzwa) to grow both their in-situ and ex-situ conservation efforts. As a result, sdzwa has adopted the conservation standards and miradi to manage all of their conservation work. With fos's support, sdzwa has refined their core project development and reporting processes to incorporate miradi, and is helping its programs think about scaling their work. - fos worked with revive our oceans, which is a new effort to help meet the global 30 x 30 target by helping to establish coastal marine protected areas around the world. Revive is a sibling organization to the national geographic pristine seas, which seeks to develop large mpas in remote parts of the world. Fos took the revive team through the fos scaling challenge and then helped them to develop more complete scaling plans for their work in se asia, europe, and mexico. This included conducting intensive economic analysis of the costs and benefits of establishing these mpas based on fisheries and marine ecotourism.- fos supported fisheryprogress to develop a theory of change to document the assumptions behind their work. This theory of change provided the basis for structuring an assessment that fos then conducted. The aim of the assessment was to help fisheryprogress staff understand the degree to which they were achieving the results laid out in their theory of change and identify suggestions for improving their work.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 83.5%; rating input score 84
• Program expense ratio: 90.4%; rating input score 90
• Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
• 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: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 11th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • 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: 8%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.98; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 37.5%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 8.3% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 11.1% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings