Special Olympics New Jersey Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 237448729
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Lawrenceville, NJ, USA
- Phone
- 6098968000
- Rating
- 86
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $10,431,718
- Expenses
- $10,222,520
- Assets
- $24,317,440
- Liabilities
- $1,373,194
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
32 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- HEATHER ANDERSEN (PRESIDENT & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- HEATHER ANDERSEN (PRESIDENT & CEO): $393,069 total reported compensation
- CARMEN BANNON (CHIEF COMMUNITY AFFAIRS OF): $220,882 total reported compensation
- DIANE PARASKEVAS (VP OF CORPORATE DEVELOPMEN): $178,120 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of olympic type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in sharing gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other special olympics athletes and the community.
What it reported doing in 2025
Special olympics New Jersey (sonj) remains financially strong through its diverse revenue streams that include special event fundraising, corporate partners, individual donors, and grant funding. Even with a setback from some grant funding, sonj remains to experience a strong financial position through dedicated support from all constituents. *our non-operating long-term investments and interest-bearing accounts experienced considerable growth during 2025, reaching market benchmarks.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 80% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 83
- Transparency & Controls: 84
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 43
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 89.3%; rating input score 89
- Program expense ratio: 88.3%; rating input score 88
- Fundraising efficiency: $10.64 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 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; 64th 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: 2%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.38; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 14.1%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 89.3% of revenue deployed · 88.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 25 of 25 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $393K · 32 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 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.
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 35/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 33/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 58/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.