International Peace & Security Institute

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
270586846
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2013
Forms available
Form 990 2013
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2023757763
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
International, Foreign Affairs

Reported finances

Revenue
$520,092
Expenses
$550,466
Assets
$3,553
Liabilities
$204,839

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2013. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Cameron Chisholm (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Cameron Chisholm (President): $84,167 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2013. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Research and training in peace and security.

What it reported doing in 2013

IPSI researched and designed original training material on how U.S. Foreign Affairs Officials working to achieve U.S. foreign policy goals engage with various religious actors. We subsequently designed an entirely new framework for "navigating the religious landscape" and built an intensive online training platform with over a dozen original simulations and role-plays that has been called the "standard bearer" for all future training by the Director of the Foreign Service Institute (FSI). This effort generated the first training of its kind in the world.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 76% 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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 64
  • Sustainability: 12
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.1%; rating input score 89
  • Program expense ratio: 84.2%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.28 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 31; 31st 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: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 23rd 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: -5.8%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.01; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 57.65; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15.3%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 13.7% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -4% per year; rating input score 0; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 89.1% of revenue deployed · 84.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 12 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $464K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $84K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 41 of 41 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2010 to 2013
  • 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.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 31/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 21/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 1/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.