Learning to Give

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
611479763
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2020
Forms available
Form 990 2020
Location
Grand Haven, MI, USA
Phone
6168427080
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$35,832
Expenses
$280,797
Assets
$0
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KYLE CALDWELL (PRESIDENT, TREASURER & SEC)
  • BETSY PETERSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • KYLE CALDWELL (PRESIDENT, TREASURER & SEC): $303,037 total reported compensation
  • DAVID LINDBERG ENDED 321 (CFO): $192,874 total reported compensation
  • BETSY PETERSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $100,988 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Learning to give (ltg) equips k-12 teachers to educate students as philanthropists.

What it reported doing in 2020

Learning to give provides free resources, collaboration, and support to k-12 teachers at www.learningtogive.org. Learning to give's 1,700 teacher-written, standards-aligned online lesson plans teach about community needs, empathy, and civic action. Not an add-on, the standards-aligned lessons infuse philanthropy skills, knowledge, and behavior into subject-area expectations. Free online professional development includes mini-courses, videos, background papers, and teacher-to-teacher collaboration.

Operating model

Revenue model
Investment-supported. 80% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 60
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 4
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 67.5%; rating input score 68
  • Fundraising efficiency: $0.34 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 26th 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: -683.6%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 71.3%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1.8% per year; rating input score 0; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -34.5% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -19.3% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 67.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 13 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $190K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $303K · 16 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 18 of 18 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2015 to 2020
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 10/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 2/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.