GNOME Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
043572618
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
7074353731
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Development Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,892,213
Expenses
$934,099
Assets
$3,162,187
Liabilities
$188,881

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Allan Day (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Rosanna Yuen (Dir. of Operations): $109,425 total reported compensation
  • Julian Sparber (Director): $64,986 total reported compensation
  • Richard Littauer (Int. Exec Dir.): $32,500 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 GNOME Foundation is a non-profit organization that believes in a world where everyone is empowered by technology they can trust. We do this by building a diverse and sustainable free software personal computing ecosystem.

What it reported doing in 2024

Conferences & Coding Events - Run multiple international conferences and attend others with talks and booths to increase awareness as well as to help users and contributors

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 98% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 80% for direct work, and 20% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 52
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 89
  • Sustainability: 77
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 27.1%; rating input score 27
  • Program expense ratio: 83.2%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $81.41 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 97.3%; rating input score 97; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: 67.7%; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.39; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 22.2%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 14.5% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.5% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 27.1% of revenue deployed · 83.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 9 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $777K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $109K · 17 people listed
  • Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and grants
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 27/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.