Service Year Exchange Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
474970343
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2027347277
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Development Programs

Reported finances

Revenue
$911,020
Expenses
$2,880,869
Assets
$2,352,313
Liabilities
$172,379

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

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KRISTEN BENNETT (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • KRISTEN BENNETT (CEO): $224,071 total reported compensation
  • SANFORD KEITH (CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER): $211,269 total reported compensation
  • MAUREEN ECCLESTON (CHIEF IMPACT OFFICER): $195,213 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Service year alliance is an organization relentlessly pursuing a bold vision making a year of service a common expectation and opportunity for all young americans as a way to tackle important challenges while transforming their own lives.

What it reported doing in 2024

Programs & partnerships: the programs team creates and convenes learning cohorts of service year programs, state service commissions, impact communities, and other stakeholders to pilot, learn, and document solutions to unblock shared challenges, develop best practices or explore new opportunities to deploy service. In 2024 this body of work focused on continuing the work of the climate learning cohort to convene, support, and then disseminate learnings from a group of programs to understand the models, challenges, and opportunities in utilizing national service in support of the climate and workforce development fields and launching a community of practice to examine, create, test, measure, and spread effective practices and interventions that best equip corps members with the skills and motivations to bridge divides in our society. The programs & partnerships team also supports the service year alums network (inclusive of americorps alums, returned peace corps volunteers, youthbuild alums, and alums from various other service programs) by establishing the peer-led alumni chapter steering committee and by creating partnerships with organizations to connect alums in the database with relevant local events, resources, and other career, networking, and personal and professional development opportunities.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 82% 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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 94
  • Sustainability: 17
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 66.4%; rating input score 66
  • Fundraising efficiency: $1.9 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 98.3%; rating input score 98; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 90%; rating input score 90; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -216.2%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.82; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 33.2%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -5.2% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -11.9% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -6% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 66.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 10 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $224K · 15 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $511K reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 34 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 21 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 16 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.