Market Institute Llc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
271335352
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Burke, VA, USA
Phone
2028417999
Rating
67
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,140,083
Expenses
$864,536
Assets
$825,233
Liabilities
$19,387

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Charles Sauer (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Charles Sauer (CEO): $310,000 total reported compensation
  • Aaron Ammerman (CFO): $12,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Market Institute works on complex economic issues and simplifies them to increase the audience amplify the argument and provide an excellent base to create an effective educational strategy.

What it reported doing in 2024

Simplified complex economic issues such as healthcare and tax policy and simplified them to increase the audience amplify the argument and provide an excellent base to create an effective educational strategy.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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 the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 60
  • Accountability: 62
  • Sustainability: 57
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 66.6%; rating input score 67
  • Program expense ratio: 87.9%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $21.78 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 61; 61st 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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 24.2%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.95; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 37.2%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 28.7% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 26.5% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 32.9% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 66.6% of revenue deployed · 87.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $760K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $310K · 4 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $287K reported
  • Consistency: 39 of 39 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 41/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.