National Council of Nonprofits

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
521689643
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2025
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2029620322
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Philanthropy, Charity, Voluntarism Promotion

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$16,918,500
Expenses
$8,497,858
Assets
$13,898,688
Liabilities
$321,821

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Diane Yentel (President & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Diane Yentel (President & CEO): $473,248 total reported compensation
  • Richard Cohen (Chief Operating Officer): $308,291 total reported compensation
  • Sarah Saadian (SVP Policy and Campaigns): $250,019 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To advance the vital role, capacity, and voice of charitable nonprofit organizations through our state and national networks.

What it reported doing in 2025

Informing the Field: NCN is the trusted go-to resource for and about the nonprofit sector. We provide timely, practical information that nonprofits and foundations depend on and use in their everyday operations. Our publications illuminate the challenges nonprofits face and why healthy communities depend upon a flourishing nonprofit sector. In 2025, we launched "Nonprofits Get it Done," a narrative campaign elevating authentic stories about the essential services nonprofits provide in communities across the country; these positive ads received more than 55 million views and 100,000 clicks in just three months. NCN empowered nonprofits with free, practical tools through 10 free webinars and our online Resource Library, which received more than 7 million website views across more than 1,000 web pages.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 76% for direct work, and 24% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 57
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 68
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 40.4%; rating input score 40
  • Program expense ratio: 78.6%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $43.91 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Limited
    • Conducts field audits: Limited
    • May suspend future funding: Limited
    • Requires financial reports: Limited
    • Conducts site visits: Limited
    • Requires grant agreements: Limited
    • May require repayment: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 98.6%; rating input score 99; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • 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: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 49.8%; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.64; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.4%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 13.4% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17.6% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 17.1% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 40.4% of revenue deployed · 78.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 12 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $6.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $473K · 15 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $3M reported
  • Consistency: 41 of 42 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2012 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 55 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 51 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 40/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 45/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.