Imagine a Center for Coping with Loss
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 453606502
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2011
- Location
- Mountainside, NJ, USA
- Phone
- 9082643100
- Rating
- 73
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Counseling, Support Groups
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,311,561
- Expenses
- $2,173,985
- Assets
- $2,678,307
- Liabilities
- $727,093
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
20 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- LINDSAY SCHAMBACH (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- LINDSAY SCHAMBACH (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $199,320 total reported compensation
- ANDREW BAUER (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $108,750 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
A year round grief support center for children, parents and adults coping with the loss of a family member due to death or life-altering illness, designed to help children and teens develop healthy coping skills and foster resiliency and emotional well-being for all those who grieve.
What it reported doing in 2024
Imagine's core foundational program is free, year round, peer to peer grief support groups for families and individuals coping with loss, ranging in age from 3 - 18, young adults and their adult caregivers. Support groups meet bi-weekly in our mountainside or newark locations or virtually. In the 24 - 25 program year, imagine served over 600 individual participants in their direct support model. Participants attend imagine for free for as long as the services are needed. It takes over 120 trained volunteers who attend a 3 day training and then receive on-going coaching and supervision to faithfully execute the peer grief support model. Each night of support is overseen by a clinical staff member.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 93% 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 67
- Transparency & Controls: 70
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 45
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 71.5%; rating input score 71
- Program expense ratio: 75.3%; rating input score 75
- Fundraising efficiency: $6.15 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- 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: 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: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- 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: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 6%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.23; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.27; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 14.2%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 15.7% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 13.7% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 20.7% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 71.5% of revenue deployed · 75.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $199K · 20 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
- 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 22/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 44/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 20/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 37/100.