Running Start
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 208666097
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2015–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Rating
- 69
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Youth Development Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,334,083
- Expenses
- $1,224,652
- Assets
- $268,132
- Liabilities
- $131,515
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
21 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Susannah Wellford (CEO Founder)
Highest reported compensation
- Susannah Wellford (CEO Founder): $151,294 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Running Start is a nonpartisan nonprofit that trains young women to run for political office. Running Starts programs empower participants with the confidence capabilities connections and civic discourse skills they need to run win and lead!
What it reported doing in 2024
The Congressional Fellowship includes a semester-long internship with a Member of Congress and a week of intense training and networking in Washington DC. Congressional Fellows practice real-world campaign skills through a campaign simulation and get weekly training on how to run for office from mentors and alums. Since 2009 185+ Congressional Fellows have interned in the offices of 95+ Members of Congress. Walmart is the founding partner of the Congressional Fellowship and has provided $2,500,000+ of funding.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 69
- Transparency & Controls: 75
- Accountability: 66
- Sustainability: 36
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 71.7%; rating input score 72
- Program expense ratio: 78.1%; rating input score 78
- Fundraising efficiency: $7.77 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 19th 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: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 95.2%; rating input score 95; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 8.2%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.22; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.49; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 12.4%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.7% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -4% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 71.7% of revenue deployed · 78.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 20 of 21 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $956K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $151K · 21 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 41 of 42 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2015 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 30/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 10/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 58/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 16/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 30/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.