Regional Educational Television Network

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
030343285
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2020
Forms available
Form 990 2020
Location
Burlington, VT, USA
Phone
8026547980
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts, Culture, and Humanities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$151,772
Expenses
$187,078
Assets
$0
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Jess Wilson (Executive Director)
  • Gary Lambert (President)
  • Shelagh Shapiro (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Jess Wilson (Executive Director): $20,180 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Regional Educational Technology Network - RETN - makes media and technology accessible for all students and lifelong learners to advance education and civic engagement.

What it reported doing in 2020

Educational Access Programming - RETN is a community media organization operating the educational access and arts channels on four cable television systems in northwestern Vermont. RETN provides the opportunity for schools, other education organizations and community scholars to acquire, produce and cablecast educational programs, arts and cultural events, learning events and educational policy coverage for the public via the cable systems on Channels 16, 216 and 1094. RETN operates and maintains video production, post-production, cablecast, and web-based facilities designated for use by community producers representing the schools and the broader educational community. RETN also provides teacher, student and community training and presentations pertaining to the educational use of telecommunications, video and other technologies. With partner VCAM, RETN also lends equipment to the public for the production of TV content

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 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: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 10
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 91.4%; rating input score 91
  • Program expense ratio: 74.3%; rating input score 74
  • 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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -23.3%; rating input score 13; 13th 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: 10.8%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -6.9% per year; rating input score 0; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -2.4% per year; rating input score 0; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -6% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 91.4% of revenue deployed · 74.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $139K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $20K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2010 to 2020
  • 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: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 13/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 1/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 34/100.