Institute for Spending Reform Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
611701005
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2013–2017
Forms available
Form 990 2014, Form 990-EZ 2017, Form 990-N 2012
Location
Alexandria, VA, USA
Phone
2025036551
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Research Institutes and Public Policy Analysis

Reported finances

Revenue
$165,700
Expenses
$162,602
Assets
$54,634

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2017. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JONATHAN BYDLAK (PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • JONATHAN BYDLAK (PRESIDENT)
  • HARIS HADZIMURATOVIC (TREASURER)
  • ERIC KOHN (DIRECTOR)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2017. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The institute to reduce spending engages in and promotes rigorous academic research and scholarship on the subject of federal spending and budgeting. We seek to create a national, nonpartisan dialogue regarding spending reform by presenting information in a publicly accessible manner.

What it reported doing in 2017

Research & public education the institute produced full-length research studies, regular policy briefs, and op-eds on various spending topics, with the goal of presenting complex policy easily and accessibly to a general audience. We produced the first original quantitative research on the us debt limit process, which became a published book. We also created the first original research on how the 1974 budget act has impacted federal spending and debt, ultimately publishing it in 12 journals. We also produced short pieces on agriculture policy, defense spending, budget reforms, transportation policy, and criminal justice reforms.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% 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. Revenue has declined or grown slowly and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 29
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 70.3%; rating input score 70
  • Program expense ratio: 71.7%; rating input score 72

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 1.9%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.34; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 24.1%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -4.5% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -13% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 70.3% of revenue deployed · 71.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 4 filed program accomplishments · $117K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2013 to 2017
  • 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 — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 40/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 29/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.