Northwest Valley Connect

What it reported doing in 2023

Since 2014 Northwest Valley Connect has assisted low-income seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities who do not have access to, or cannot afford, transportation. Serving the cities of Peoria, El Mirage, Sun City, Sun City West, Surprise and Youngtown, our mission is to provide mobility options empowering the people we serve to take care of their healthcare needs, maintain independence, and participate more fully in community life. More than 60 percent of NVCs clients have an annual income less than $30,000 and 80 percent of our clients are over the age of 65. Over the past year, the new administration has guided NVC and its board of directors through a comprehensive organizational assessment, making appropriate modifications to increase ridership and better meet the transportation needs in our community. Through the assessment, we gleaned invaluable insights into our strengths, challenges, and areas for improvement. After conducting a series of one-on-one interviews with key stakeholders and a thorough examination of our programs, people, finances and systems, we have put key strategies in place for enhancing our sustainability and impact, while being more scrupulous in how we set, measure and meet our goals. Significant progress was made in the last year in several areas, including re-building the administrative and service delivery teams, resuming rider enrollments, enhancing our organizational capacity, and attracting new funding from Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, BHHS Legacy Foundation, Vitalyst Health Foundation and APS. Additionally, we have embarked on initiatives to strengthen our volunteer program and improve our operational processes such as call center management and accounting practices.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
• Program expense ratio: 80.9%; rating input score 81
• Fundraising efficiency: $43.14 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Limited
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
  • Whistleblower policy: Fail
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
  • Audit committee oversight: Missing
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -48.2%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.19; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 21.7% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 17.7% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 17.7% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings