Idealistorg Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
133836763
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
6467866872
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Promotion of International Understanding

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,704,689
Expenses
$8,755,014
Assets
$6,087,597
Liabilities
$3,044,167

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Ami Dar (Executive Dir): $368,853 total reported compensation
  • Patrick Metzger (Director of Product): $216,654 total reported compensation
  • Kara Montermoso (Chief of Staff): $209,228 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Idealist.org Inc. the Organization" is a not-for-profit organization incorporated under the laws of the State of New York in 1995 and is exempt from federal income taxes under Section 501c3 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code and from state and local taxes under comparable laws. The Organization connects people organizations and resources to help build a world where all people can live free and dignified lives. The Organization is independent of any government political ideology or religious creed. Its work is guided by the common desire of its members and supporters to find practical solutions to social and environmental problems in a spirit of generosity and mutual respect.

What it reported doing in 2024

Idealst.org maintains the most popular English-lanugage directory of nonprofit organizations and social enterprises on the web. Over 156,000 organizations have created profiles on Idealist where they post their services jobs internships volunteer opportunities and events. Currently over 2.1 million individuals have created accounts on the site with hundreds joining every day and hundreds of thousands opt to receive free email alerts when new listings are posted that match their areas of interest and geographic location. All of these services are also available in Spanish and Portuguese. Alongside the thousands of nonprofit jobs that are posted on Idealist the Organization also provides free online tools for career assessment and self-knowledge including a career blog and a resource center. In 2024 the Organization hosted one in-person graduate school fair in New York where representatives of graduate degee programs could meet with thousands of prospective students. In 2023 the Organization paused the grad fair program and no in-person fairs were hosted. On idealist.org the Organization also hosted a directory of graduate school profiles and provides a free resource center with profiles of specific degrees for the public good information about admissions and financial aid and more. The directory was deprecated on March 31 2024.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 95% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most filed governance safeguards are in place. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 49
  • Accountability: 81
  • Sustainability: 12
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 86.2%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $0.41 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -53.5%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.7; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.5; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 23.9%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.3% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -2.4% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 86.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $7.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $369K · 12 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2M reported
  • Consistency: 45 of 46 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes foreign activity and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 10 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 1/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 26/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.