LEE

Legal name: Lee Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
208848357
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Wilmington, Delaware, USA
Phone
(202) 734-3716
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$24,942,196
Expenses
$24,663,528
Assets
$3,596,167
Liabilities
$3,974,350

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

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MICHAEL BUMAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • MILDRED OTERO (PRESIDENT, LEE)
  • SARAH MCLEAN (SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, PARTNERSHIPS & INFRASTRUCTU)
  • SHERYL LEO (VICE PRESIDENT, TALENT, LEARNING, & CULTURE)
  • CARL S ZARAGOZA (SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, MEMBER IMPACT)
  • STEVEN FRANCISCO (VICE PRESIDENT, TECHNOLOGY)

Highest reported compensation

  • MICHAEL BUMAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $468,447 total reported compensation
  • MILDRED OTERO (PRESIDENT, LEE): $443,158 total reported compensation
  • CHRISTINE GREEN (SECRETARY/TREASURER, VP GENERAL COUNSEL): $282,802 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

As a leadership development organization, LEE supports leaders to engage civically and increase access and opportunity in their communities.

What it reported doing in 2024

Leadership development: lee develops lee members to engage civically within their communities and across the nation. Lee is a source of leaders who: 1. Believe deeply in the potential of all children and 2. Work to overcome barriers that limit access and opportunity. Lee strives to inspire our members to work with communities to increase access and opportunity. Lee accomplishes these goals by providing trainings, fellowships, and coaching to support members' civic engagement. A significant portion of those trainings, fellowships and coaching are charitable and educational, as those terms are defined in section 501(c)(3) of the internal revenue code.

Operating model

Revenue model
Affiliate-supported. 84% of the money available for current operations came from contributions from related organizations.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 92% 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: 90
  • Transparency & Controls: 88
  • Accountability: 85
  • Sustainability: 21
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.6%; rating input score 90
  • Program expense ratio: 90.6%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: $211.15 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 14th 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: 1.1%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.15; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.11; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.6%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.9% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.5% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.2% per year; rating input score 100; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
  • Where the money goes: 89.6% of revenue deployed · 90.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 4 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $22.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $468K · 14 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.8M reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 14 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 14 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.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 38/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 3/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.