Read Alliance Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
134091062
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
6468676101
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Remedial Reading, Reading Encouragement

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,400,976
Expenses
$4,788,613
Assets
$4,442,907
Liabilities
$815,456

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

26 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ROBERT BROWN (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • DANIELLE GUINDO (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • DANIELLE GUINDO (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $283,559 total reported compensation
  • YVETTE RUSSELL (CHIEF STRATEGY OFFIC): $213,872 total reported compensation
  • MARCOS CLANDER (SNR DIRECTOR OF PROG): $129,310 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Read alliance, inc (read alliance) works to accelerate the educational trajectory of early elementary students through the power of teens who provide one-to-one literacy tutoring in under-resourced communities. Read impacts two populations simultaneously, and through a highly structured, research-based curriculum, students average a full year's growth in reading and their teen tutors develop college, career, and life skills. Early intervention prevents reading difficulties from becoming barriers to future success, while teens have a positive direct impact on the lives of children in their communities through meaningful service and jobs.

What it reported doing in 2024

Teen leadership program- teen leaders are engaged in meaningful after school employment for 90 minutes a day, for a minimum of three days a week, at a nearby elementary school, earning an average of between $600-$1,000 over 45 sessions. Teen leaders are not only trained to deliver the research-based reading curriculum one-on-one to young children, but they are also trained in behavior management and data collection that is crucial to program implementation, reflection and analysis. Teen leaders have the opportunity to advance to senior teen leader, a position with additional responsibility providing support and guidance for the teen leaders, peer to peer development, and supervision. As part of the teen leadership program read alliance offers complementary programming for teen leaders that promotes their postsecondary success including financial literacy training, leadership development, networking and career exposure, college readiness, and social and emotional learning. Read alliance launched a pathways to education initiative in fy 23 to support teen leaders' pursuit of higher education and to create a pipeline to teaching careers. In an effort to support expansion, read added the role of summer enrichment program assistant during the summer of fy22 specifically for experienced teen leaders who were home from college to provide oversight and support to program sites if a program manager was unable to be there in person every day.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 76% 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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 24
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.7%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 80.3%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.42 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • 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: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -8.8%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.93; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.18; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.4% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13.2% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87.7% of revenue deployed · 80.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $3.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $284K · 26 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 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: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 28/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 15/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 46/100.