BetterInvesting

Legal name: National Association of Investors Corporation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
382111435
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Troy, MI, USA
Phone
(877) 275-6242
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Financial Counseling

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,706,549
Expenses
$2,874,416
Assets
$3,090,371
Liabilities
$1,232,334

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KEN ZENDEL (FORMER CEO)
  • WAYNE THORP (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • KEN ZENDEL (FORMER CEO): $203,296 total reported compensation
  • SUZANNE ARTZBERGER (DIRECTOR OF): $141,769 total reported compensation
  • CLIFF TRENT (DIR OF OPS &): $125,618 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To provide investment education to help individuals build wealth through stock investing.

What it reported doing in 2024

Far too many americans are missing out on the basic building blocks of wealth creation because of lack of knowledge, exposure and opportunity. Too many still lack basic investment education. Through our programs, the national association of investors (naic) aims to address these issues and empower individual investors to build a strong financial foundation. Naic/betterinvesting introduces individuals to the benefits of owning and investing in stock. The organization provides a program of unbiased, in- depth investing education to create successful lifelong investors. The organization encourages a long term approach to investing and financial literacy that focuses on the selection and ownership of high-quality companies. Betterinvesting staff teach the organization's priciples and time-tested methodology via live educational webinars. Betterinvesting magazine is the naic/betterinvesting monthly publication on a variety of financial education topics distributed to all members. A dedicated inclusive community of volunteers across america develops and delivers educational programs to individuals and investment clubs. Hundreds of classes are offered locally and/or online each year. These educational programs are for the general public, with programs for beginners as well as for those who want to expand their knowledge of investing. The better investing volunteer advisory board sponsors and produces one annual conference: the betterinvesting national convention, which offers dozens of investment education seminars over multiple days. Additionally, naic/betterinvesting provides tutorial-based, online tools for stock market analysis and portfolio management from beginner to expert.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 72% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 77
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 24
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 88.7%; rating input score 89
  • Program expense ratio: 83.5%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Scored; rating input score 0

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: -6.2%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.08; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.4; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 21%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.2% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -2.4% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -6.9% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 88.7% of revenue deployed · 83.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $203K · 13 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $123K reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes executive pay and related organizations
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 10 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Related-party transparency scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 18/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 27/100.