Scratch Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 462612143
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- New York, NY, USA
- Phone
- 8572335422
- Rating
- 73
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Computer Science
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $20,013,298
- Expenses
- $12,331,160
- Assets
- $13,684,109
- Liabilities
- $579,690
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
18 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Margaret Honey (President and CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- Margaret Honey (President and CEO): $464,552 total reported compensation
- Maria Janelli (Chief of Staff): $281,534 total reported compensation
- Kevin Bedeau (Head of Product): $226,515 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
See Schedule O
What it reported doing in 2024
Scratch is a creative programming language and the world's largest online coding community for children ages 8 to 16. In 2024, 21 million online users from every country in the world created more than 170 million Scratch projects.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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.
- 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 the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 62
- Transparency & Controls: 69
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 65
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 49.8%; rating input score 50
- Program expense ratio: 80.2%; rating input score 80
- Fundraising efficiency: $40.07 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
- Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
- Requires narrative reports: Fail
- Conducts field audits: Fail
- May suspend future funding: Fail
- Requires financial reports: Fail
- Conducts site visits: Fail
- Requires grant agreements: Fail
- May require repayment: Fail
- Grant itemization coverage: 96.3%; rating input score 96; 26th 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; 66th 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: 38.4%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.11; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 16.8%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 23.5% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 21.2% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 18.4% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 49.8% of revenue deployed · 80.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $9.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $465K · 18 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.5M reported
- Consistency: 38 of 40 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 9 filing years from 2013 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 30 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 20 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 50/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.