Make The Road States Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
843988830
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2019
Location
Brooklyn, NY, USA
Phone
7184187690
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Personal Social Services

Reported finances

Revenue
$18,884,913
Expenses
$15,164,262
Assets
$19,905,448
Liabilities
$2,146,245

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Arlenis Morel (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • MAEGAN LLERENA (STATE DIRECTOR): $206,860 total reported compensation
  • Arlenis Morel (Executive Director): $194,604 total reported compensation
  • ROBERT F MAZZAFERRO (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $181,644 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Make the road states, inc. Is a national organization which operates projects that deliver direct services, including adult education, youth leadership development and support programming, and legal services, to support communities, their members and their leadership, reduce oppression and discrimination, and help individuals families and communities to thrive. In addition to operating the projects, the organization also provides financial, human resources, operations, compliance and other infrastructure support to organizations that share a strategic vision and values.

What it reported doing in 2024

Organizing projects: organizing projects aim to build a stronger community, make governing institutions subject to leadership development. The organization focuses on issues that most deeply impact its members, including immigrants' rights, workers' rights, civic engagement and more.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 88% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 83% 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 total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 65
  • Transparency & Controls: 72
  • Accountability: 81
  • Sustainability: 64
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 59.3%; rating input score 59
  • Program expense ratio: 73.8%; rating input score 74
  • Fundraising efficiency: $33.66 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 97.3%; rating input score 97; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 19.7%; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.31; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.7%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 22.3% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 19.5% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 25.3% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 59.3% of revenue deployed · 73.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $11.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $207K · 13 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $132K reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 14 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 10 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 59/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 31/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.