Open Networking Summits Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
454206560
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2015
Forms available
Form 990 2015
Location
Palo Alto, CA, USA
Phone
4086051745
Rating
65
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Professional Societies, Associations

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,101,142
Expenses
$2,506,265
Assets
$422,066
Liabilities
$62,537

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2015. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Sedef Ozcana (VP Operations): $240,852 total reported compensation
  • Guru Parulkar (Pres/Exec Dir): $220,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2015. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The Organization organizes and sponsors educational conferences which share and explore key developments in software-defined networking and network functions virtualization(SDN/NFV). SDN/NFV is a new, rapidly evolving approach to computer networking, in which networking intelligence resides in software running on centralized servers, rather than on proprietary networking hardware devices. The ultimate goal of SDN/NFV is to preserve the openness of the Internet by facilitating innovation and the creation of computer networks that are more programmable, simpler, more adaptable, less expensive, and less proprietary than the networks that exist today. The organization's mission is to help the SDN/NFV revolution succeed by producing high-impact SDN/NFV events.

What it reported doing in 2015

The organization sponsored a conference in June 2015 that drew 1200 attendees, attracted 38 sponsors and exhibitors, and featured several academic/research demonstrations. The conference featured 28 keynote and plenary speakers, and 80 breakout session speakers, who are thought leaders in industry and academia, and conducted five tutorial tracks. The conference furthered the organization's mission by (a) educating industry and the academic community about how SDN/NFV works and how it benefits network users, (b) disseminating information relating to key SDN/NFV developments and deployments, (c) providing a forum for high quality dialogue among industry and academic participants, and (d) facilitating the creation of an SDN/NFV community and ecosystem. All these accomplishments further ONS's exempt purpose by facilitating the development, improvement, and adoption of SDN/NFV, which will result in more programmable, simpler, more adaptable, less expensive, and less proprietary computer networks, and ultimately in a more open accessible Internet. A subsequent conference was held in March 2016 and additional conferences will be held in the future.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 100% 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.

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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 65
  • Sustainability: 13
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84.7%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 71%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 11th 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: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -19.3%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.17; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.4%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -7.9% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -55.7% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 84.7% of revenue deployed · 71% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $241K · 4 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2013 to 2015
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 6/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.
  • High — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization is recorded as not currently operating in California.