Groundswell Network Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 931682003
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2023–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Brooklyn, NY, USA
- Phone
- 4089213750
- Rating
- 70
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Scholarships, Student Financial Aid Services, Awards
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $753,613
- Expenses
- $935,130
- Assets
- $185,449
- Liabilities
- $216,966
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- GREG LIPPMAN (CEO/DIRECTOR)
- HEATHER D WATHINGTON (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- GREG LIPPMAN (CEO/DIRECTOR): $387,086 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Groundswell networks mission is to ensure that schools demonstrating the greatest impact with our countrys most underserved students are identified, strengthened, and scaled.
What it reported doing in 2024
The organization is a national network of educators, community leaders, policy experts, and advocates committed to expanding access to high-quality opportunity schools. They are united by the belief that students furthest from opportunity deserve schools designed for their success. By sharing best practices and driving innovation, groundswell network works to transform public educationdeveloping accountability and performance frameworks, and elevating the role of strong relationships in driving student success. Our focus is on students at highest risk of not completing high school, including students chronically absent, truant, and students involved in the juvenile justice or foster care systems in Tennessee, it led efforts to pass a law creating "opportunity schools," launched the state's first alternative charter high school, and hosted a national convening of innovative educators. Nationally, groundswell published a framework for successful alternative schools, organized best-practice cohorts in New York city, and partnered with California's stuart foundation to improve success metrics for nearly 1,000 alternative schools.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 65
- Transparency & Controls: 79
- Accountability: 78
- Sustainability: 7
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 76.4%; rating input score 76
- Program expense ratio: 61.6%; rating input score 62
- Fundraising efficiency: $5.06 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 18th 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: -24.1%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.2; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.17; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 41.4%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 110.9% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 31.9% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -21.5% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 76.4% of revenue deployed · 61.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $576K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $387K · 5 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $154K reported
- Consistency: 20 of 20 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 18/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 8/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 9/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 4/100.