LC Biddle & Associates

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
453275110
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2015
Forms available
Form 990 2015, Form 990-EZ 2014, Form 990-N 2011
Location
Southeastern, PA, USA
Phone
2155186188
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$246,259
Expenses
$229,403
Assets
$29,336
Liabilities
$62,668

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2015. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Letitia C Biddle (President)
  • Phyllis F Mincer (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Letitia C Biddle (President)
  • Phyllis F Mincer (Vice President)
  • Christine Healey (Treasurer)

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

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2015. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The Organization's mission is to provide educational resources and support to under-resourced schools, parents and students and to build school communities that are vibrant, sustainable and proud of strong academic outcomes. Approximately 70% of the Organization's students are eligible for the government free or reduced breakfast and lunch program.

What it reported doing in 2015

The Annex "Reading on Wheels" program offers "pushed-in" reading instruction to children in their classrooms during the academic year. Daily, students in pre-K through 2nd or 3rd grade (principals choice of grades) are given 40 minutes of reading instruction by a certified reading instructor using the Wilson Language technique.During the academic year, a total of 364 students in 3 different schools [St.Rose of Lima, DePaul Catholic School and St. Francis Cabrini Regional Catholic School] participated in the "Reading on Wheels" program. The cost per child was $2.28 per day. The outcomes are as follows.At the DePaul site, "Reading on Wheels" participants took the NWEA assessment and attained the following scores.Kinder - Reading 90% [national avg: 50%]First - Reading 94% [national avg: 50%]Second - Reading 84% [national avg: 50%]Students participating in our program at St. Rose of Lima, in West Philadelphia, took the TerraNova and received the following score.Kinder - 89% [national avg: 50%]First - 73% [national avg: 50%]Students at Cabrini did not participate in the testing. Testing is at the principals discretion.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 82% 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

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: 100
  • Accountability: 58
  • Sustainability: 39
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87%; rating input score 87
  • Program expense ratio: 93.4%; rating input score 93
  • Fundraising efficiency: $378.44 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 96; 96th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 6.8%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.13; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 2.14; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 26.8% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 32.1% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87% of revenue deployed · 93.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 0 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $214K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 7 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 2/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.