Southeast Seattle Education Coalition

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
813543228
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2016
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
2063974480
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alumni Associations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,623,305
Expenses
$1,967,904
Assets
$2,340,124
Liabilities
$646,235

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Lizbet Huizar (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Michael Flor (Associate Director): $146,813 total reported compensation
  • Lizbet Huizar (Executive Director): $132,535 total reported compensation
  • Mindy Huang (Director of Commnity Advocacy): $111,180 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 mission of SESEC is to convene and resource communities of color to advocate for an equitable education system.

What it reported doing in 2024

Youth Participatory Grantmaking Project YGMPStudents are often the target for funding decisions but rarely have a democratic say in how funding allocations or decisions are made. YGMP seeks to flip these power dynamics by creating a framework for students, and especially students of color in SE Seattle, to make funding decisions and support their leadership in this arena.By creating a pool of resources and mentoring youth of color in making decisions around how to bring those resources to their own schools and communities, this project provides them a voice in shaping their own educational and life experiences This is also a trust building exercise between young people and systems, where we learn together and alongside each other how to re-shape and create new ways of being in community together. Participants meet regularly and receive supportive training and mentoring in the areas of local education policy, social justice-focused philanthropy, and advocacy skills development. At the end of each cohort, youth participants collaboratively allocate grant funding

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 72% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 63% for direct work, and 37% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 93.3%; rating input score 93
  • Program expense ratio: 77%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.95 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 90.2%; rating input score 90; 38th 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: 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -21.2%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.19; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.28; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 19.8%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 29.5% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 23.1% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 33.8% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 93.3% of revenue deployed · 77% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $147K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 29 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 20 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 17 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 26/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 48/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 26/100.