Grand Rapids Downtown Alliance

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
300083388
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2013
Forms available
Form 990 2013
Location
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Phone
6167194610
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Domestic Fraternal Societies

Reported finances

Revenue
$218,681
Expenses
$245,255
Assets
$0
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2013. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

27 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • SHARON EVOY (EXECUTIVE DI): $75,839 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2013. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The grand rapids downtown alliance is an organization comprised of downtown stakeholders working for the benefit of the downtown to ensure its local and regional vibrancy by means of maintenance, beautification, marketing, advocacy, visionary leadership and collaboration.

What it reported doing in 2013

Marketing, events, and communications: encourage the scheduling of quality events that showcase the downtown community, bring people into the downtown businesses, and promote a positive image for downtown. Accomplishments include: - creating tools to encourage people to come downtown, including maintenance of the downtowngr.org website, management of social media platforms, and production and distribution of 35,000 downtown directories/maps to various downtown businesses and cultural attractions. Also distributed a weekly e-newsletter. - assisted various events through a micro-grant program. This program is directed towards new and emerging events that expand the downtown event calendar and attract a diverse audience. - collaborated with downtown businesses to help promote various downtown events. The events help add to the vitality of the downtown and its position as a gathering place for the west Michigan community. - collaboration and communications with the downtown merchant businesses through the merchants council to provide information, discussion and consensus on a variety of issues that affect them from road closures and panhandling, to events and marketing. - there is a notable increase in the activity in the downtown, the talk about the downtown and the people out on the streets. Events draw record crowds. We are receiving national attention on a regular basis. (see schedule o)

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 100% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 10
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 93.9%; rating input score 94
  • Program expense ratio: 83.7%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -12.2%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 30.9%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: -16.1% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -26.7% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 93.9% of revenue deployed · 83.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 26 of 26 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $205K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $76K · 27 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $108K reported
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2009 to 2013
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 19/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.