Silverado Policy Accelerator Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
851886884
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
7812586199
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Research Institutes and Public Policy Analysis

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,121,842
Expenses
$2,690,862
Assets
$910,587
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SARAH STEWART (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • DMITRI ALPEROVITCH (CO-PRESIDENT & EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN)
  • MAUREEN HINMAN (CO-PRESIDENT & EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN)
  • ANDREW DAVID (VICE PRESIDENT, RESEARCH & ANALYSIS)
  • MAHNAZ KHAN (VICE PRESIDENT, POLICY)

Highest reported compensation

  • SARAH STEWART (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $225,000 total reported compensation
  • DEBRA DELAY (TREASURER & CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $202,279 total reported compensation
  • ANDREW DAVID (VICE PRESIDENT, RESEARCH & ANALYSIS): $194,402 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The organization (a) fosters, supports, promotes, and cultivates innovative strategies to confront social welfare challenges within american society and advance american prosperity and global leadership in the twenty-first century and beyond; (b) supports and conducts educational activities, including but not limited to, research, analyses, and convenings to better inform and engage the general public about these challenges and strategies; and (c) supports and conducts other projects and activities in furtherance of the foregoing.

What it reported doing in 2024

Program events: periodically hosted or participated in events that support the organization's mission by convening issue experts to discuss policy challenges and solutions in its pillar areas. In 2024, for example, silverado hosted its second annual silverado policy accelerator summit, a conference that convenes government, private sector, and non-governmental leaders and experts to address a range of pressing, interconnected national and economic security issues across silverado's pillar areas. Silverado also participated in events hosted by other organizations including the reagan defense forum and the munich security conference.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 97% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 93% 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 61
  • Accountability: 67
  • Sustainability: 47
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 68.7%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 79.6%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $34.7 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 84.6%; rating input score 85; 1st 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: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Pass
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 50%; rating input score 50; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 13.8%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.34; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 36.5%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 39.9% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 26.9% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 68.7% of revenue deployed · 79.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 4 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $225K · 9 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $192K reported
  • Consistency: 27 of 29 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 5 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: 6 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 50/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.