Rising Ground

Legal name: Rising Ground Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
131860451
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New York, NY, United States
Phone
212-602-5800
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$218,053,221
Expenses
$217,620,302
Assets
$130,123,583
Liabilities
$109,095,911

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

Leadership & pay

32 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ALLEN WAXMAN (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • JOSE M JARA (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • MATT DEL PERCIO (PRESIDENT)
  • ALAN E MUCATEL (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
  • MARCEL SUAREZ (VICE PRESIDENT OF FINANCE)
  • TRAVIS E RODGERS (SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • ALAN E MUCATEL (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $457,339 total reported compensation
  • ELLIOT HAGLER (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $366,753 total reported compensation
  • LISSA M SOUTHERLAND (CHIEF OPERATIONAL OFFICER): $312,215 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Mission Driven by the belief that each of us can thrive when life has hope and opportunity, Rising Ground provides caring support and proven paths to positive change, helping children, adults, and families rise above adversity. Rising Ground is a human services organization that supports individuals and families in New York City and lower Westchester County by providing the resources and skills needed to help them positively direct their lives. Founded as an orphanage in 1831, Rising Ground provides therapeutic treatments and trauma-informed supports that meet the physical, mental health, psychological, and educational needs of youth and adults facing a myriad of complex challenges. Children on line at a community event. Mission.

What it reported doing in 2024

Child and youth development - our child and youth development services include the residential treatment center, which provides residential care to youth requiring more significant therapeutic and educational support, supervised independent living program supporting foster youth in apartments with staff support, transitional independent living and crisis residences which houses and assists runaway and homeless youth while they transition into independent living, juvenile justice initiative and aftercare provides home-based alternative-to-placement and aftercare services for youth involved in nycac's juvenile justice initiative, youth reception center which house youth and children during the critical time between their removal from their parents care and their placement into the foster care system, center-based respite a short term program to support families who are experiencing crisis, limited secure placement, a residential program serving adjudicated youth, non-secure placement, for adjudicated juvenile delinquents, non-secured detention offer a less restrictive setting for lower-risk youth who have court cases pending in family court community schools in collaboration with nyc department of education to organize resources so that academics, social services, and other supports are integrated into the fabric of the school. Drop-in centers serving at risk, runaway and homeless youth, paths to success which teaches middle and high school students to recognize and change destructive patterns of behavior before transitioning into adulthood, atlas supports court involved or at-risk youth successfully integrate back into the community. Rapid rehousing is a housing first, rent subsidy program that places youth in their own apartments while providing them with essential supports to ensure their success after discharge from the program.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 96% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 91% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 88
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 32
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.6%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 87.2%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.77 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th 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: 0.2%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.6; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.84; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.3%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 87.6% of revenue deployed · 87.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 21 of 21 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 6 filed program accomplishments · $189.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $457K · 32 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.2M reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 30/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 32/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 16/100.