Great Aspirations Scholarship Program Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 521277427
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Richmond, VA, USA
- Phone
- 8045277726
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Scholarships, Student Financial Aid Services, Awards
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,490,185
- Expenses
- $2,481,101
- Assets
- $8,410,475
- Liabilities
- $2,823,385
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
29 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- TODD D MARTIN (PRESIDENT AN)
Highest reported compensation
- TODD D MARTIN (PRESIDENT AN): $159,957 total reported compensation
- ANNE MICHIE (CHIEF COMPLI): $107,775 total reported compensation
- PATRICIA Y GORDON (CHIEF FINANC): $73,766 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To provide resources to students and families in need to access financial aid, scholarships, private financial support and counseling to encourage and maximize each student's educational opportunities. Grasp's focus is on increasing college, technical school, and workforce credential access and graduation rates, particularly among families without sufficient financial resources to accomplish this without grasp's guidance and financial assistance.
What it reported doing in 2024
Grasp anticipates continuing to take advantage of the Virginia neighborhood assistance tax credit program ("nap") and education improvement scholarship program ("eisp"). The nap and eisp programs provide significant tax incentives to Virginia private and business donors who support scholarships and other tuition assistance programs of (1) students and families of low to modest financial means and (2) provide scholastic assistance in developing post - secondary academic and vocational plans for children with one or more disabilities as defined under the federal idea legislation. The nap program requires that more than 50% of grasp tax credit derived revenues are used for education services in support of students and families with income at or below 300% of the recognized poverty level of income or 400% of the recognized poverty level for students with disabilities. The eisp program, a scholarship program for students in k-12 who wish to attend a private school, requires that at least 90% of tax credit generated revenues under this program be paid out in scholarships for students at or below 300% of poverty, or in the case of students with disabilities, 400% of poverty by the end of the following fiscal year end. The grasp board has directed that preference by given to scholarships for students with disabilities attending private schools with specialized disability services under the eisp program.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 60% for direct work, and 40% for grants.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 79
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 45
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 83.3%; rating input score 83
- Program expense ratio: 81.3%; rating input score 81
- Fundraising efficiency: $24.79 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
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: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- 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: 89.7%; rating input score 90; 20th 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: 0.4%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.39; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.34; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 13.8%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 12.2% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 83.3% of revenue deployed · 81.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 26 of 29 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $160K · 29 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 35/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 31/100.