Milwaukee Achiever Literacy Services Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
930828271
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2016
Forms available
Form 990 2016
Location
Milwaukee, WI, USA
Phone
4144637389
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$524,748
Expenses
$505,017
Assets
$168,891
Liabilities
$1,012

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2016. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

27 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Holly McCoy (Executive Dir.): $42,601 total reported compensation
  • Tracy Loken Weber (Executive Dir.): $41,736 total reported compensation
  • Tammy Knutson (Accountant): $40,340 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2016. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The purpose of the organization is to provide education, life skills training and workforce development instruction to adult learners in an atmosphere of mutual consideration and respect. Learners are inspired and empowered to enrich their lives and their communities.

What it reported doing in 2016

Workforce Development - Provide adult education for private companies and clients of state agencies. Sessions include ABE, ELL, GED & Warehouse Worker Certifications

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 74% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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

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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.7%; rating input score 80
  • Program expense ratio: 86%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $55.23 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 96%; rating input score 96; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 3.8%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.33; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 24.7%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -22.8% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -16.3% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -9.1% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 79.7% of revenue deployed · 86% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 24 of 25 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $434K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $43K · 27 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2015 to 2016
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 18/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 52/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.