Meristem Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 471411177
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2013
- Location
- Fair Oaks, CA, USA
- Phone
- 9169631181
- Rating
- 89
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Specialized Education Institutions
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $6,407,783
- Expenses
- $7,834,090
- Assets
- $6,364,900
- Liabilities
- $1,361,663
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
People named in this filing
- MARC TURTLETAUB (FOUNDER AND TRUSTEE)
- DONNA COURVILLE (CHAIR)
- MAUREEN CURRAN (FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Meristem prepares young adults who are on the autism spectrum or neurodiverse to build a strong sense of self, develop an enhanced social capacity, and create a life of increased social and economic independence.
What it reported doing in 2024
Work skills: each year roughly 75,000 young americans on the autism spectrum turn 18 and feel unsure how to transition to independent adulthood. Unemployment and underemployment for young adults on the spectrum is estimated at 90% nationwide according to a 2013 report in the journal of the american academy of child and adolescent psychiatry. Meristem's work skills program supports students as they master the finer points of punctuality, reliability, professional conduct/expectations and teachability. They also learn about their rights as employees in general as well as their rights as employees with a disability, the rights of employers, workplace safety, self-advocacy in the workplace, managing stress and maintaining a healthy work/life balance. This program includes exposing students to the business world through top-level professionals where they gain real-world work experience through meristem's on-campus social enterprises or the offsite internship program which matches motivated young adults to outside paid employment.
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 97% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 85
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 27
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 84%; rating input score 84
- Fundraising efficiency: $5 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 17; 17th 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; 72nd 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: 7 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -22.3%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.81; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.21; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 10.1% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 84% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 7 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $6.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
- Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 17/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 30/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.