Policy Works Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
800637699
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2023
Forms available
Form 990 2023, Form 990-EZ 2013, Form 990-N 2011
Location
Tallahassee, FL, USA
Phone
8508792631
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$164,687
Expenses
$175,374
Assets
$222,769
Liabilities
$244,498

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Steven Allen (President)
  • Nancy Wells (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Steven Allen (President): $29,771 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To support equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living and economic self-sufficiency for people with disabilities.

What it reported doing in 2023

Lights! Camera! Access! (LCA) is a project that Policy Works, Inc. in collaboration with EINSOF Communications, Forward Works Consulting, and Michael Adams Studio, who together serve as the strategic and operations partners. Its primary objectives are to increase employment of people with disabilities in front of, and behind the camera/keyboard; to improve disability protrayals and reduce stigma; and, to integrate access to media with captions and audio descriptions. LCA supports these objectives by offering a biannual six-month web-based series of workshops and professional incubator events available to two cohorts of participants from across the nation. The LCA Collaborative is a collection of multi-dimensional initiatives that weaves and braids established traditional and digital media entities (networks, studios, industry associations, union, production, internet and cable content creators and providors) with authentic disability and diversity leaders, organizations, film festivals, veterans, accelerated high school and college students, recent graduates, and transitioning youth. This combination results in a dynamic disability-inclusive diversity community. LCA Creates interconnected strategies and tactics to accomplish our three objectives by hosting monthly national LCA events twice a year for participants who are aspiring media professionals with disabilities, or who are deaf. Policy Works, Inc. provides a workshop entitled How to Leverage Your Disability to Sharpen your Competitive Advantage and facilitates and event entitled The Disability Expressionists Cafe. These LCA program activities are offered bi-annually to two national cohorts of LCA participants of 30-34 individuals with disabilities interested in careers in the media arts.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 84% 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 a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 62
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80.4%; rating input score 80
  • Program expense ratio: 75.4%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -6.5%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.27; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.1; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 17%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -5% per year; rating input score 0; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.8% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -6.7% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80.4% of revenue deployed · 75.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 8 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $132K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $30K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2014 to 2023
  • 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.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 29/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 47/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.