Merchant Risk Council
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 134142147
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Redmond, WA, USA
- Phone
- 2063642789
- Rating confidence
- Limited
- Sector
- Chambers of Commerce & Business Leagues
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $11,261,662
- Expenses
- $11,454,593
- Assets
- $7,792,025
- Liabilities
- $2,898,357
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
19 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JULIE FERGERSON (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
Highest reported compensation
- JULIE FERGERSON (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $410,065 total reported compensation
- TRACY BROWN (VP, PROGRAMS & TECHNOLOGY): $262,558 total reported compensation
- RHIANNA COLLIER (VP, MEMBERSHIP & EVENTS): $242,471 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Be the go-to place for ecommerce payment and fraud professionals globally to facilitate networking, education and advocacy.
What it reported doing in 2024
Merchant risk council's programs, goals, and objectives are built on four pillars - collaboration, networking, education, and advocacy. With those fundamental pillars as the guiding principles, merchant risk council (mrc) hosted six in-person conferences, welcoming payments and fraud professionals from around the world and providing an environment for learning, sharing industry insights and best practices, and networking. To continually offer different ways for industry professionals to get together, collaborate, and learn from colleagues, the mrc also hosted a number of virtual summits on trending industry topics, as well as in-person regional networking events in the americas, europe, and asia-pacific and latam.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 98% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
The verdict
- The available evidence is not sufficient to produce an overall rating for this filing. This is not a warning sign.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: NotEnoughData
- Transparency & Controls: 54
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 23
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: Limited
- Program expense ratio: Limited
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- 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: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- 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: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -1.7%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.68; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.37; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 16.6%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
- Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments
- Leadership: top reported pay $410K · 19 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $190K reported
- Consistency: 12 of 12 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes foreign activity and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 24/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.