Qm Quality Matters Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
465503339
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2025
Location
Annapolis, MD, USA
Phone
8668514985
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,697,578
Expenses
$6,583,904
Assets
$5,642,479
Liabilities
$2,957,339

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

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DEBORAH ADAIR (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • DEBORAH ADAIR (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $326,092 total reported compensation
  • THOMAS CLAFFEY (CFO/VP OPERATIONS DIRECTOR): $225,115 total reported compensation
  • BETHANY SIMUNICH (VP INNOVATION & RESEARCH): $173,648 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To promote and improve the quality of online education and student learning through: 1. Development of research-supported, best (continued on schedule o) practice-based quality standards and appropriate evaluation tools and procedures. 2. Recognition as experts in online education quality assurance and evaluation.3. Fostering institutional acceptance and integration of qm standards and processes into organizational improvement efforts focused on improving the quality of online education.4. Provision of faculty development training in the use of qm rubric(s) and other quality practices to improve the quality of online/hybrid courses.5. Provision of quality assurance through the recognition of quality in online education.

What it reported doing in 2025

With 1,894 cumulative members served from january 1, 2025, to december 31, 2025, and ranging from four-year colleges and universities to technical and community colleges to other academic organizations, quality matters is the leading provider of tools and processes used to evaluate quality in course design. It accomplishes this through:- access to the quality matters fully-annotated higher education rubric- access to web-based automated rubric tools, for informal unofficial/internal/self course reviews for the development and improvement of online or blended courses(continued on schedule o)- discounts on qm professional development, official qm-managed course reviews, conferences, and events- complimentary seats in the "self-paced" qm coordinator training (qmct)- ability to create myqm accounts which gives all faculty and staff access to our tools and resources and their personal qm activity, including certificates of training and/or course certification- access to reporting tools through myqm- access to my custom review tool which allows an organization to develop their own rubric- access to communication tools to send customized emails to specific individuals, role holders or everyone in the organization with a myqm account

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 100% 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 most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 46
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 15
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 89.5%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -15.6%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.86; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.52; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 19.9%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10.8% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 89.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $5.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $326K · 20 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes foreign activity and executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2014 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 29/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.