Penny Forward Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
872376924
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2023–2024
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-PF 2022
Location
Owatonna, MN, USA
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Blind/Visually Impaired Centers

Reported finances

Revenue
$199,411
Expenses
$180,031
Assets
$60,864
Liabilities
$7,935

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Elizabeth Bottner (Vice President)
  • Christopher Peterson (CEO and President)

People named in this filing

  • Elizabeth Bottner (Vice President)
  • Charles Yarberry (Secretary)
  • Christopher Peterson (CEO and President)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Penny Forward is a 501C3 nonprofit organization founded and led by blind people. Through education mentoring and mutual support we help each other learn to confidently navigate the complicated landscape of personal finance. We offer self-paced online financial education courses weekly and monthly personal finance workshops and one to one financial counseling provided by blind financial counselors.

What it reported doing in 2024

Our web site and podcast contain a wealth of free financial education resources open to the public. We estimate that our web site served over 8,500 unique visiters and our podcast served over 6,000 unique listeners in 2023.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 62% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 44
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 42%; rating input score 42
  • Program expense ratio: 46.5%; rating input score 47

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 9.7%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.34; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.13; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13.9%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 123% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 72% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 42.4% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 42% of revenue deployed · 46.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 4 filed program accomplishments · $84K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

Key Signals

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

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 42/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 47/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 28/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 58/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 22/100.