Smart City Works Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
820941868
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2019, Form 990-N 2018
Location
Arlington, VA, USA
Phone
9292762789
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community Improvement, Capacity Building N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$381,459
Expenses
$408,527
Assets
$63,503
Liabilities
$3,638

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DEBORA SCHANTZ-HISCOTT (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • DEBORA SCHANTZ-HISCOTT (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $143,333 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Transform northern Virginia and the greater Washington region into a global urban innovation hub and national testbed for new digital services and capabilities to improve the livability, sustainability, health, and resilience cities.

What it reported doing in 2024

The northern Virginia smart region initiative is a three-year initiative to help foster nova as a world-renowned center of excellence for urban technology innovation, and destination for digital technology companies to build and grow their businesses. The initiative is led by smart city works and through a public-private partnership with universities, private sector, and government, we aim to fill a much-needed gap supporting technology start-ups and smes in northern Virginia, accelerating their growth, and creating commercialization pathways to spur sustained regional economic growth. As companies grow, the region creates jobs, attracts new talent, catalyzes innovation, and helps advance nova as a magnet region for digital innovation, job opportunities, and cutting-edge urban technologies. Current program offerings include: 1) sourcing new and emerging technologies to solve key urban challenges; 2) fostering growth and education of tech startups through mentoring and business acceleration programs; 3) developing and running regional test beds and living laboratories to support validation pilot projects; 4) designing and running innovation challenge programs focused on identifying, sourcing, and selecting new and emerging technologies to solve or otherwise support local government or community goals; and 5) promote and sustain innovation, entrepreneurship, commercialization, and economic development through thought leadership, networking, and other educational events that foster of a regional innovation cluster.

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 98% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 19
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80.2%; rating input score 80
  • Program expense ratio: 74.9%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • 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: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -7.1%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.16; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 35.1%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15.6% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.1% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80.2% of revenue deployed · 74.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $306K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $143K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 20 of 20 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 26/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 31/100.