Marion Downs Center

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
840404238
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Greenwood Village, CO, USA
Phone
3033221871
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,448,650
Expenses
$1,210,541
Assets
$7,842,678
Liabilities
$3,298,193

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SANDRA GABBARD PHD (PRESIDENT &)

Highest reported compensation

  • SANDRA GABBARD PHD (PRESIDENT &): $212,967 total reported compensation
  • LYNNE LYONS (CHIEF OPERAT): $81,540 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To provide culturally sensitive services, resources, education, and research to support the needs of individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing or who have communication challenges, their families, and professionals; all activities value individual/family choice in communication and use of technology. The organization strives to optimize the quality of life for all that it serves.

What it reported doing in 2025

Ello. Early language and literacy outreach programs. A community-wide literacy program that equips preschoolers and their families with fundamental tools used in the development of communication and literacy skills; connect and grow teen program. This program supports teens with hearing loss through teen day, an all-day event focused on preparing high school students who are deaf and hard of hearing for life after high school and campus connections, a conference for college-bound teenagers who are deaf and hard of hearing; Wyoming ehdi program. Early hearing detection and intervention program. The organization is supporting the efforts of the Wyoming ehdi program to improve communicational and educational outcomes of children from birth to age five with hearing loss.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 58
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 71
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 53.7%; rating input score 54
  • Program expense ratio: 78%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.79 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 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: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: 50.6%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.48; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.42; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 24.3%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.7% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 14.5% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 53.7% of revenue deployed · 78% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $944K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $213K · 11 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 54/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.