Our Own Lives
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 923922045
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2024–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2023
- Location
- Cortez, CO, USA
- Phone
- 9703358960
- Rating
- 71
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Developmentally Disabled Centers
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $5,240,469
- Expenses
- $4,093,130
- Assets
- $3,194,999
- Liabilities
- $234,163
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- SCOTT SMITH (CEO)
- GEORGE GLASS (President)
- JENNIFER PULLEY (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- SCOTT SMITH (CEO): $105,412 total reported compensation
- CYNTHIA ASPEN (CFO): $37,761 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The mission of our own lives is to provide quality support on our terms, for us to be free to be ourselves. We center the disabled community to be heard, and we buildeach other up to change our world. We are all experts in our own lives.
What it reported doing in 2024
See schedule o
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 99% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 67
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Accountability: 82
- Sustainability: 61
- Growth: NotEnoughData
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 68.3%; rating input score 68
- Program expense ratio: 87.8%; rating input score 88
- Fundraising efficiency: $0.98 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 5th 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: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- 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: 21.9%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.78; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.5%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: Limited
- Asset growth: Limited
Details
- Where the money goes: 68.3% of revenue deployed · 87.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $3.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $105K · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 18 of 19 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 2/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 29/100.