Scholarship Foundation of Indian River County Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
596192598
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Vero Beach, FL, USA
Phone
7725699869
Rating
88
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,028,029
Expenses
$907,476
Assets
$16,045,352
Liabilities
$98,369

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SCOTT SCHWARTZ (PRESIDENT)
  • ELIZABETH SORENSEN (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • JONATHAN STERNBERG (PAST PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • SCOTT SCHWARTZ (PRESIDENT)
  • ELIZABETH SORENSEN (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • MARY JOHNSTON (TREASURER)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Scholarship foundation of irc provides hope, encouragement and need-based scholarships to indian river county students with the desire and ability to succeed in post-secondary education.

What it reported doing in 2025

Scholarship foundation awards multi-year scholarships that are renewable if recipients meet academic and paperwork requirements. In 2025, we paid $667,224 in awards, ranging from $1,000 to $7,500 to 139 new and returning students.we made new awards totaling $798,800 to the 47 recipients in the class of 2025.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 62% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 87% of its reported program spending out as grants.

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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 94
  • Sustainability: 91
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84.8%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 84.2%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.76 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 31; 31st 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 6 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 86
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 55.3%; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 17.68; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 84.8% of revenue deployed · 84.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 6 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $764K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2015 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 31/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Whistleblower policy not reported.