Front and Centered

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
843336800
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2023
Forms available
Form 990 2023
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
2064874303
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Environmental Quality, Protection, and Beautification N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,584,627
Expenses
$3,027,050
Assets
$2,568,251
Liabilities
$605,802

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Deric Gruen (Co-Executive Director)
  • Aurora Martin (Co-Executive Director)
  • Susan Balbas (Board President)
  • Barbara BG Nabors-Glass (Board President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Deric Gruen (Co-Executive Director): $142,740 total reported compensation
  • Aurora Martin (Co-Executive Director): $129,186 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Front and Centered is a statewide, community driven coalition working to achieve environmental justice by asserting policy solutions that center equity. Our members are the leadership of communities first and worst hit by environmental and climate impacts, communities of color and indigenous communities.

What it reported doing in 2023

Community Engagement - We connect with and empower frontline communities - primarily people of color, Indigenous communities, migrants and people with low incomes - who are disproportionatelyaffected by environmental issues. We provide community assemblies providing local residents and leaders to share experiences, advocate for policy changes, and collaboratively build solutions to community challenges.These assemblies facilitate grassroots input into decision making and help communities directly engage in environmental justice and climate policy, ensuring that solutions reflect their needs and values.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 86% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 90
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 22
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 85.8%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $14.16 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 82.4%; rating input score 82; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -17.1%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.85; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 18.2% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.5% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18.1% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 85.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $143K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 31 of 32 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes grants
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2020 to 2023
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 16 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 15 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 32/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.