Marathon Education Partners Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
743062657
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2018
Forms available
Form 990 2018
Location
Portland, OR, USA
Phone
5032352500
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$236,593
Expenses
$389,323
Assets
$1,005,048
Liabilities
$1,553

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2018. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • DEBORAH STEINKOPF (INTERIM EXEC DI): $32,700 total reported compensation
  • STEPHEN WASSERBERGER (Executive Dir.): $24,999 total reported compensation
  • WENDY PATTON (Executive Dir.): $6,667 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2018. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Marathon education partners believes that higher education is life-changing and should be accessible to all those who aspire. We believe that personal, long-term relationships have the ability to transform the lives of both our scholars and our partners.

What it reported doing in 2018

Marathon scholars works to remove obstacles that exist for low-income children striving for a college education by providing long-term mentoring, college readiness activities, college coaching, and financial scholarships toward the costs of a college education. In 2017, 120 scholars age 10-24 were served by marathon scholars. 100% of high school seniors in the program completed their high school diploma, and of these 98% were enrolled in college. In 2017, approximately $57,000 was disbursed to marathon scholars for college tuition and related expenses.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 55% for direct work, and 45% for grants.

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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 73.8%; rating input score 74
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.79 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 26; 26th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -64.6%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.58; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 16.5%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 13.3% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -2.4% per year; rating input score 0; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.3% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 73.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $287K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $33K · 18 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2010 to 2018
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 26/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.