FWD.us Education Fund

Legal name: Fwdus Education Fund Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
820962378
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
4155891222
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$12,307,961
Expenses
$10,855,190
Assets
$18,073,671
Liabilities
$16,771,395

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • TODD SCHULTE (PRESIDENT)
  • ZOE TOWNS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & SECRETARY)
  • JUAN PACHON (VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNICATIONS)

Highest reported compensation

  • TODD SCHULTE (PRESIDENT): $515,833 total reported compensation
  • ZOE TOWNS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & SECRETARY): $446,773 total reported compensation
  • MARK DELICH (VP GOV RELATIONS): $336,417 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The FWD.us Education Fund is a bipartisan organization that believes America’s families, communities, and economy thrive when everyone has the opportunity to achieve their full potential.

What it reported doing in 2024

Fwd.us education fund educates the public about immigration and criminal justice policy and reform. Fwd.us education fund convenes meetings at which interested members of the public can receive instruction and participate in discussions about immigration and criminal justice law and policy. Through fwd.us education fund's informed immigrant program, it explains rights of immigrants and provides information about navigating government agencies with respect to those rights.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 69% for direct work, and 31% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 73
  • Accountability: 72
  • Sustainability: 53
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 71.3%; rating input score 71
  • Program expense ratio: 79.6%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $17.87 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 98.3%; rating input score 98; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 60%; rating input score 60; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: 11.8%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.66; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.93; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.5%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -5.1% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site
  • Where the money goes: 71.3% of revenue deployed · 79.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 5 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $8.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $516K · 13 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $837K reported
  • Consistency: 35 of 36 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 83 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 76 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.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 54/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Whistleblower policy not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 55/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.