Montlake Futures Fund

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
873396900
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
2069733780
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Student Services, Organizations of Students

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$44,347,088
Expenses
$44,382,463
Assets
$233,276
Liabilities
$22,565

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • GERALD SWANSON (PRESIDENT)
  • MINDY BLAKESLEE (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • ANDREW MINEAR (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • ANDREW MINEAR (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $326,124 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Montlake futures develops name, image, and likeness opportunities that benefit the missions of 501(c)(3) organizations and provide educational experiences for university of Washington student-athletes. Our goal is to leverage the roles and identities of student-athletes to help fundraise, generate awareness, and otherwise support charitable causes, while fostering connections that inspire a lifetime of civic engagement for student-athletes.

What it reported doing in 2024

Our primary program is purchasing the name, image, and likeness rights of student-athletes and allocating those rights to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations for the purpose of benefitting their missions. Program expenses enabled work to fundraise, generate awareness, and otherwise support organizations such as seattle children's hospital and boys and girls club of king county.

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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 98
  • Transparency & Controls: 51
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 98.9%; rating input score 99
  • Program expense ratio: 98.9%; rating input score 99
  • Fundraising efficiency: $123.13 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -0.1%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.01; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0.7%; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 98.1% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 89.2% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -54.7% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 98.9% of revenue deployed · 98.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $43.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $326K · 5 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.5M reported
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 30/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 1/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.