Groundwire

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
911972832
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2012
Forms available
Form 990 2012
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
2062861235
Rating confidence
Limited
Sector
Natural Resources Conservation and Protection

Reported finances

Revenue
$399,292
Expenses
$506,778
Assets
$778,989
Liabilities
$99,344

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2012. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2012. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To create a sustainable society by providing environmental nonprofits with civic engagement strategies and web-based software tools which are provided substantially below cost and subsidized by donations to groundwire.

What it reported doing in 2012

Database/crm development - in 2012, groundwire implemented salesforce.com database projects. Groundwire builds web-based, highly flexible, and customizable databases which provide groups working toward a sustainable society with a powerful way of organizing the information about their supporters for fundraising, advocacy, and citizen engagement. Groundwire customizes each database, allowing their mission-based clients to manage an expanded supporter base by collecting and recalling detailed information about each contact. This allows for stronger relationship-building over time, which leads to greater individual civic engagement.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

- The available evidence is not sufficient to produce an overall rating for this filing. This is not a warning sign.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: NotEnoughData
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 29
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: Limited
  • Program expense ratio: Limited
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 60th 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: 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -26.9%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.54; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.13; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.4%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: -51.7% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -4.1% per year; rating input score 0; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $191K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $26K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 21 of 22 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2010 to 2012
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 54/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 39/100.