Public Works The Center for the Public Sector
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 454744307
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2015
- Forms available
- Form 990 2015
- Location
- Austin, TX, USA
- Phone
- 5123477404
- Rating
- 72
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Citizen Participation
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $703,553
- Expenses
- $1,027,803
- Assets
- $248,373
- Liabilities
- $7,300
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2015. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- R Dianne Stewart (President and CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- R Dianne Stewart (President and CEO): $186,357 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2015. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Public Works is dedicated to building public will for the common good. We seek to revitalize the notions of civic responsibility, the value of public goods, and the virtues of a truly representative democracy. Our goal is to educate individuals and organizations about the importance of the public sector and cultivate them as active spokespersons on its behalf by undertaking research, conducting trainings and workshops, and developing educational materials.
What it reported doing in 2015
Providing in-person and web-based training and seminars to community groups, individual advocates and government representatives. Providing editing and consulting services to community groups, individual advocates and government representatives related to specific campaign materials, speeches, videos, etc. Networking with individuals and groups to increase visibility of Public Works mission and resources.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% 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 - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 89
- Transparency & Controls: 70
- Accountability: 74
- Sustainability: 15
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 83.2%; rating input score 83
- Fundraising efficiency: $14.12 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 53; 53rd 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: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- 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: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -46.1%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.24; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 18.1%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -3.2% per year; rating input score 0; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -59.6% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -89.9% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 83.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $855K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $186K · 6 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $255K reported
- Consistency: 43 of 43 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2014 to 2015
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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: 3 of 8 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 53/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.