Primary Source Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
042911053
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Cambridge, MA, USA
Phone
6179239933
Rating
67
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$879,016
Expenses
$832,664
Assets
$726,776
Liabilities
$227,147

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ROSEMARY HOEY-PISANO (PRESIDENT)
  • JENNIFER NIGRO (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • JENNIFER NIGRO (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $174,133 total reported compensation
  • JILL STEVENS (PROGRAM DIRECTOR): $107,340 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Primary source educates global citizens by working with teachers to foster students' knowledge, skills, and dispositions for thoughtful and engaged citizenship. With our guidance and resources, teachers cultivate students' civic-mindedness, cultural awareness, and global educational programs.

What it reported doing in 2025

Educational programs: our professional development opportunities include summer institutes, seminars, workshops, conferences, and curriculum development. Programs are built around participation by scholars and expert teachers, fostering an intellectual exchange that acknowledges the pivotal role teachers play in the creation of an aware and knowledgeable public. Teachers can obtain professional development points for all our programs and some also offer graduate credit. Distribution of educational materials: primary source publishes curriculum resources that expand teachers' knowledge about the history & culture of diverse peoples & regions of the world. The primary source website & e-newsletter provide a web-based forum to distribute educational resources and update teachers about learning opportunities.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 74% 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 70%; rating input score 70
  • Program expense ratio: 74.3%; rating input score 74
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.75 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 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: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 5.3%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.87; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.31; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 33.8%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -4.7% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3.5% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -10.3% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 70% of revenue deployed · 74.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $619K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $174K · 8 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 8/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 45/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.