Pro News Coaches

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
990886204
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2024
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
7182196660
Rating
60
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Employment Procurement Assistance

Reported finances

Revenue
$79,223
Expenses
$26,565
Assets
$61,378

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

People named in this filing

  • F James Pensiero (Chairman)
  • Kate Ortega (Treasurer/ MBR)
  • Janet Guyon (Secretary)

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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Pro News Coaches, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded by Wall Street Journal alumni, offers coaching, mentoring and related services to local news organizations nationwide. As independent newsrooms shrink and disappear at an alarming rate, many communities have limited access to trusted local and regional news. We work with reporters and editors to develop research and investigative skills, expand public service coverage, and strengthen the communities they serve.

What it reported doing in 2025

Pro News Coaches added coaching projects at ten individual newsrooms to its alumni volunteers' roster in 2025, including projects in Interlochen, Mich., and Philadelphia. PNC's volunteer work also expanded in 2025 into newsroom training. Alumni volunteers led sessions on health-care reporting, breaking-news coverage, editing, and writing skills for reporters and editors at States Newsroom, a nonprofit providing coverage from the capitals of every U.S. state. We are also now partnered with the Center for Cooperative Media and the Lenfest Institute to offer as-needed editorial services to their members.

Operating model

Revenue model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
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 revenue comfortably covers expenses. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 47
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 71
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 26.7%; rating input score 27
  • Program expense ratio: 79.6%; rating input score 80

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 66.5%; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.31; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: Limited
  • Asset growth: Limited

Details

  • Where the money goes: 26.7% of revenue deployed · 79.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $21K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 27/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.