National Council on Independent Living

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
742291620
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2022070334
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Centers to Support the Independence of Specific Populations

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,579,663
Expenses
$1,648,968
Assets
$1,079,275
Liabilities
$527,220

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

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JEFF HUGHES (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • KENT CRENSHAW (PRESIDENT)
  • THEO BRADDY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • THEO BRADDY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $130,917 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Advancing the disability-led independent living movement to expand the capacity of independent living programs to enhance the human and civil rights of all people with disabilities.

What it reported doing in 2024

Ncil partners with centene corporation on the barrier removal fund project. The brf offers a competitive request for proposal opportunity for healthcare providers in centene's network to receive grants to remove access barriers in their offices. Ncil subcontracts with centers for independent living or other ada experts to provide on-site accessibility site reviews to providers' locations. Ncil and centene have completed projects in Delaware, Hawaii, Louisiana, Iowa, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and Texas. In 2024, ncil provided barrier removal grants to approximately 39 applicants in Florida, Kansas, and Pennsylvania. Through ncil's programs and projects, ncil held over 20 peer networking calls, facilitating opportunities for peer support and leadership development, grassroots network building, and skill development. The peer networking calls focused on home usability, disability employment, and grassroots advocacy. Ncil led over eight training opportunities for people with disabilities, centers for independent living, statewide independent living councils, and other non-profit organizations. Topics include: "beyond payroll: optimizing your organization's financial processes," "self-advocates guide to employment policy," "budget 101: overview of the federal appropriation process, and accelerating housing and services partnerships to advance housing stability for centers for independent living." through the il-net project, ncil coordinated approximately ten trainings aimed to build the capacity of the independent living network with peer subject matter experts.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 76% 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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80%; rating input score 80
  • Program expense ratio: 76.4%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.58 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 16th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -4.4%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.65; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.49; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.9%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.7% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.6% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.6% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80% of revenue deployed · 76.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $131K · 20 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 23 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

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

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 29/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 25/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 30/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 16/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 44/100.