Stacks Open Internet Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
850825452
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2023
Forms available
Form 990 2023
Location
Cary, NC, USA
Phone
3142592063
Rating
60
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$12,033,900
Expenses
$10,523,690
Assets
$34,326,779
Liabilities
$1,892,945

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Brittany Laughlin (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Mitchell Cuevas (Key Employee): $385,673 total reported compensation
  • Jude Nelson (Key Employee): $343,384 total reported compensation
  • Brittany Laughlin (Executive Director): $294,028 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

THE ORGANIZATION'S MISSION IS TO SUPPORT THE DECENTRALIZED NETWORK AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPING OPEN-SOURCE AND PROGRAMMABLE TECHNOLOGY LEVERAGING THE HIGH-SECURITY OF THE PUBLIC BITCOIN PROTOCOL. WORKING WITH THE STACKS COMMUNITY, WE SUPPORT AND HELP BUILD THE ECOSYSTEM TO DRIVE VALUE AND UTILITY IN BUILDING OPEN-SOURCE AND SECURE TECHNOLOGY FOR THE PUBLIC. RESEARCH The Organization may support, design, conduct and publish research, potentially in collaboration with academics and institutions, or collaborate with institutions, organizations, or individuals already conducting research, related to a user-owned internet. All results of this research and/or development of related technology such as software or other innovations will be made available to the public gratis. Research results related to software will be made available through open source software publication, wherein all source code will be made available to the general public under free software licenses permitting redistributio

What it reported doing in 2023

Residents research and development programthe organization may support, design, conduct and publish research, potentially in collaboration with academics and institutions, or collaborate with institutions, organizations, or individuals already conducting research, related to a user-owned internet. All results of this research and/or development of related technology such as software or other innovations will be made available to the public gratis. Research results related to software will be made available through open source software publication, wherein all source code will be made available to the general public under free software licenses permitting redistribution and modification of the original code.the stacks protocol (stacks) is a blockchain linked to bitcoin by its consensus mechanism that spans the two chains, called proof of transfer. This enables stacks to leverage bitcoin's security and enables stacks apps to use bitcoin's state, despite being a separate blockchain. Stacks powers decentralized apps that run on the stacks blockchain instead of a centralized server, enabling new use cases that couldn't exist before. Like bitcoin, stacks is a decentralized network. There are many individuals and companies from all over the world that contribute to and build on stacks.the organization creates new avenues for innovation through funding research, ecosystem development, and developer incentives. Maintenance of public infrastructure. The organization may support, design, and otherwise encourage the development of software made available to the general public, gratis and under open source licenses. This software, will facilitate a better user-owned internet. The organization supports the mission of a user owned internet through stacks-related governance, research and development, education, and grants. We support independent researchers, contributors, and collaborators to help build a better user owned internet through research and development. The organization is the home for governance of stacks's open-source technology, serving as neutral ground for various parties to come together and reach consensus on the path forward. The organization supports the development, through grants and donations, of bitcoin (the protocol that underpins stacks). Bitcoin is a public payment network that provides secure payments and provides a valuable service to persons across the nation via their internet-connected devices.

Operating model

Revenue model
Investment-supported. 79% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 50
  • Accountability: 62
  • Sustainability: 68
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78.4%; rating input score 78
  • Program expense ratio: 89.7%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 84.6%; rating input score 85; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Fail
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 98.8%; rating input score 99; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 11th 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: 12.5%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.26; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15.2%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: Limited
  • Asset growth: Limited

Details

  • Where the money goes: 78.4% of revenue deployed · 89.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $9.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $386K · 6 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $953K reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 31 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 8 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.