Ohio Mayors Alliance Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
861628319
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Columbus, OH, USA
Phone
6144259163
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Research Institutes and/or Public Policy Analysis

Reported finances

Revenue
$323,947
Expenses
$302,155
Assets
$375,030
Liabilities
$12,510

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Keary McCarthy (Executive Director)
  • Michael Coleman (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Keary McCarthy (Executive Director): $185,260 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 strengthen Ohios cities and metropolitan regions through collaboration, communication, improved advocacy and stronger partnerships with policy makers.

What it reported doing in 2025

The Mayors Alliance Foundation (OMAF) continued its efforts to bring Ohios mayors together to share best practices and promote innovative local policy solutions. OMAF also continued its efforts to work with Ohio Mayors Alliance to protect the fiscal health of our cities, preserve home rule, and promote bipartisanship and collaboration. We have maintained our partnership with Power a Clean Future Ohio to help cities become more sustainable and to promote clean energy. We also continued our work with our public safety partners to research statewide crime data and policy solutions to support safer cities.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 90% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 62
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 63.1%; rating input score 63
  • Program expense ratio: 67.1%; rating input score 67
  • Fundraising efficiency: $13.7 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • 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: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 6.7%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.24; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 29%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 16.4% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.2% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 31% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 63.1% of revenue deployed · 67.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $203K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $185K · 7 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 45/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 50/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 47/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 30/100.