Project Learn Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
341664385
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2016
Forms available
Form 990 2016
Location
Maple Heights, OH, USA
Phone
2166219483
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Adult, Continuing Education

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$304,393
Expenses
$285,421
Assets
$0
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2016. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BARBARA WATSON (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • BARBARA WATSON (CEO): $45,429 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2016. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Project: learn, inc. Offers basic reading, basic math, ged instruction, and life skill programs to its students so that they may achieve their full potential as individuals, family members and citizens.

What it reported doing in 2016

Project: learn, inc. Offers basic reading, basic math, ged instruction, and life skill programs to its students in both one-to-one tutoring lessons and small group classes. Specific programs include education first, a comprehensive basic literacy, family literacy and ged program designed to improve the learning levels of tanf eligible individuals, particularly those with a history of incarceration. Reading health is a program that offers technical assistance to health care providers helping them to communicate more effectively with patients who have poor comprehension skills; institution-based corrections education at the cuyahoga county jail and northeast pre-release center for women; workplace training for companies; and computer-assisted instruction. It also has a large (3,500 titles) full circulation library of fiction, non-fiction and reference books written especially for new readers. Project: learn served 647 individuals during this fiscal year.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 82.9%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 88.4%; rating input score 88
  • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 6.2%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15.9%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -18.1% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -13.9% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -14.3% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 82.9% of revenue deployed · 88.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $252K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $45K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 18 of 18 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2009 to 2016
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 1/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 58/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.