Kindnessorg Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
811617915
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
4074971093
Rating
66
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$989,890
Expenses
$1,048,541
Assets
$470,287
Liabilities
$34,419

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JACLYN LINDSEY (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • JACLYN LINDSEY (CEO): $188,246 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Our mission is to educate and inspire people to choose kindness. We fulfill this mission by conducting rigorous scientific research through kindlab, our research hub dedicated to advancing the science of kindness. The insights we generate inform the development of evidence-based programs and products designed to help people understand, measure and grow their kindness.

What it reported doing in 2024

Through our research hub kindlab, we continued to advance understanding of kindness and its measurable impact on individuals, communities and organizations. This year's research priorities were moving all research into the final stage, which is publication. We successfully published five academic research papers. At the heart of our work is live kind - our global platform and movement that empowers people to take everyday action toward a kinder world. Through live kind, we have cultivated a network of approximately 500,000 kindmakers: individuals, educators and partners committed to learning about, practicing and amplifying kindness. This year, we launched the kindness quotient (kq), a pioneering tool that enables people to discover how kind they are and identify ways to grow their kindness. Nearly 10,000 people completed the kq, collectively activating thousands of kind acts and providing new behavioral data to inform future research and programming.building from this foundation, learn kind reached 105,000 students across all states and more than 20 countries, delivering social-emotional learning (sel) curriculum that fosters empathy, inclusion, and cooperation in classrooms worldwide.our work kind initiative continues to evolve as we apply scientific insights to help organizations build cultures of kindness and psychological safety to demonstrate that kindness is not only good for people, but also for performance.the why kindness? Podcast expanded its reach, amplifying stories of everyday kindness and inspiring action, with streams in over 70 countries and ranked in the top 5% of global podcasts.

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 most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 48
  • Accountability: 85
  • Sustainability: 24
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.8%; rating input score 86
  • Program expense ratio: 81%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $23.44 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -5.9%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.45; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -3.3% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -7.2% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.8% of revenue deployed · 81% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 12 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $850K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $188K · 12 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2016 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 22/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 21/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.