International FIRST Committee Associatio Co Toohey Law Group

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
811060352
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Manchester, NH, USA
Phone
6036695139
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Engineering and Technology

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$11,185,122
Expenses
$9,420,866
Assets
$5,735,451
Liabilities
$541,215

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Dean Kamen (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Stephanie Slezycki (Dir of Development): $127,170 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The mission of FIRST Global is to enhance the global call for STEM education in the international student community. FIRST Global does so by combining the excitement of sport through robotic challenges with the rigors of science and technology, while emphasizing the value of nations' cooperation in addressing the Grand Challenges of Engineering, as identified by the National Academy of Engineering of the United States, that our planet and people must tackle in order to thrive.Because of this, the collaborative character of leadership brought out in international youth by this effort is a defining basis of FIRST Global's success.

What it reported doing in 2024

In September 2024, the FIRST Global Challenge was hosted in Greece. An Olympic-style competition, the 2024 challenge engaged teams from 192 nations, with 179 teams able to travel to the event in Greece. Each team is allowed a maximum of five student competitors to attend the event as members of the official traveling team, with an unlimited number of team members allowed to work on the challenge in their home country in preparation for the event. Approximately 2,082 high school students participated, under the guidance of 977 volunteer mentors. The 2024 theme of Sustainable Food Systems highlighted the cruciality to focus on the intricate and interdependent relationship between water, energy, and food, and the need to carefully manage and balance these global resources to support a sustainable food system.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 92% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 63% for direct work, and 37% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 90
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 88
  • Sustainability: 61
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83.9%; rating input score 84
  • Program expense ratio: 99.2%; rating input score 99
  • Fundraising efficiency: $242.68 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Limited
    • Conducts field audits: Limited
    • May suspend future funding: Limited
    • Requires financial reports: Limited
    • Conducts site visits: Limited
    • Requires grant agreements: Limited
    • May require repayment: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: 15.8%; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.61; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.3%; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 36.7% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 39.6% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 24.6% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 83.9% of revenue deployed · 99.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 1 of 1 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $9.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $127K · 5 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $5.8M reported
  • Consistency: 25 of 26 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.