Save a Mind Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
943437845
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2017
Forms available
Form 990 2017, Form 990-EZ 2011
Location
Penn Valley, PA, USA
Phone
6105920041
Rating
62
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Student Services, Organizations of Students

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$458,175
Expenses
$328,259
Assets
$20,442
Liabilities
$24,937

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2017. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LANCE T FUNSTON (PRESIDENT)
  • CHRISTINA FUNSTON (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • CHRISTINA KARDON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • CHRISTINA KARDON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $121,154 total reported compensation
  • ERIKA DAVIDSON (VP OF FINANCE): $68,750 total reported compensation
  • CHRISTINA FUNSTON (VICE PRESIDENT): $24,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2017. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Save a mind foundation seeks to increase the percentage of low income urban students who complete high school and continue as productive citizens.

What it reported doing in 2017

Save a mind win-win program provides a key missing piece of the public schooling puzzle, the extra encouragement, support and motivation that students need to drive their growth and success and to vailidate their hard work and learning. The same model takes best practices drawn from motivational theory and employs them on a scale large enough to fundamentally shift the nature of schooling and acheivement across philadelphia, statewide, and nationally.the program has two main elements: monetary incentives in the form of points targeted at specific student performance that students earn toward gift cards and positive reinforcement of student behaviors through teacher generated supportive messaging. Students receive frequent feedback, including weekly hand-written notes from their teachers, for engaging in the habits of successful people - such as participation, effort, collaboration, citizenship, and resilience - which reinforces a message of purposeful effort and positive outcomes.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 67% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 62
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 53
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 55%; rating input score 55
  • Program expense ratio: 76.7%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $16.99 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

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: No; rating input score 0
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 28.4%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.06; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.22; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 65.2%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -8% per year; rating input score 0; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 19.2% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -4.8% per year; rating input score 0; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 55% of revenue deployed · 76.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 9 board members independent · 3 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $252K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $121K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2012 to 2017
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 55/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Major donor itemization scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 56/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 2/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 5/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.