Inquiry Facilitators Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
721551104
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2019
Forms available
Form 990 2019
Location
Bernalillo, NM, USA
Phone
5053857109
Rating
57
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Adult, Continuing Education

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$205,510
Expenses
$202,077
Assets
$41,487
Liabilities
$3,097

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • RUSS FISHER-IVES (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • RUSS FISHER-IVES (PRESIDENT): $39,768 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Inquiry facilitators mission is to enhance science, technology, engineering, and math (stem) education through academic competitions, support and student research, and professionalal development for teachers.

What it reported doing in 2019

The annual roborave international is a competition for teams of students ages 8 and up, who have designed, built, and programmed an autonomous robot. The organization offers students training workshops, materials to make robots, and admission to the event. Typically this is one of New Mexico's largest robotics events, however during this fiscal year, the event was held in china. At that event there were about 500 teams and over 1,500 attendees. Inquiry facilitators is also an educational consulting firm for teachers and students at middle school to high school level. The organization helps to promote research in the areas of math and science in New Mexico as well as other parts of the united states and internationally. Some of its programs are: intel robot alliance - which aims to teach students how to design, build, program and test machines then to communicate their results in a variety of ways. Nm math, engineering, & science achievement (nm mesa)- which aims to prepare pre-college students for careers in math, science, or technically related fields. Assistance to students and other organizations studying and advancing robotics technology.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 94% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program 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.

The verdict

MIXED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 55
  • Accountability: 57
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 76.6%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 77.9%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $1.17 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 1.7%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.21; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 19.7%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -18.2% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -5.6% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -7.3% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 76.6% of revenue deployed · 77.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $157K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $40K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2010 to 2019
  • 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.

Key Signals

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

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 6/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 45/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 36/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.