Isles Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
222350832
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Trenton, NJ, USA
Phone
6093414700
Rating
93
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Housing Rehabilitation

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$12,945,564
Expenses
$15,073,577
Assets
$24,757,416
Liabilities
$8,955,938

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

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SEAN JACKSON (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER/EX)

Highest reported compensation

  • SEAN JACKSON (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER/EX): $149,395 total reported compensation
  • PETER ROSE (MANAGING DIRECTOR): $120,819 total reported compensation
  • LAURA FENSTER ROTHSCHILD (MANAGING DIRECTOR): $113,160 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Isles' mission is to foster self-reliant families and healthy, sustainable communities, we design and develop effective services that support this mission and share what we learn with others who can make a difference.

What it reported doing in 2024

Johnson learning center - to invest in the empowerment of community-based approaches and organization in both trenton and throughout nj, isles launched the johnson center for learning & impact in 2022. We designed the center for be a vehicle through which isles can advance knowledge, best practices, and resources; strengthen public policies; build stronger data and research capacity within isles; and prepare the next generation of community leaders. The center strives to maximize the reach and effectiveness of both isles and other community organizations working on similar issues throughout New Jersey. It is also a bridge between public policy and on-the-ground services within the impacted communities. Unlike research that is often done in an academic vacuum, the center's role also includes cross-pollinating between research and grassroots services so that both are informed by each other. This results in actionable information and resources that can be disseminated beyond isles to drive positive change outside of the geographic scope of isles' program, research and policy work. Specifically, this year, isles johnson center staff spoke at multiple conferences across New Jersey and the country, hosted events about energy affordability, building decarbonization, micro transit and lead paint remediation. The johnson center also fought for increased funding for youthbuild programs (like that run by isles youth institute) and hosted 15 summer interns who gained practical experience in research, policy, community engagement, advocacy, and project management.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 79% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 97% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 94
  • Transparency & Controls: 95
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 90.5%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: $40.59 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 24th 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: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -16.4%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.64; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.36; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.1%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 14.3% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.2% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 90.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 6 filed program accomplishments · $13.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $149K · 23 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.7M reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 23 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 28 filed related-organization links
  • 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 55/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 40/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 59/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.