Starter Studio FL Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
474227979
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2015
Location
Orlando, FL, USA
Phone
4073784150
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Economic Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$625,407
Expenses
$550,693
Assets
$2,377,316
Liabilities
$463,680

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DAWN HAYNES (CEO - EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • DAWN HAYNES (CEO - EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $142,979 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Starter studio is a non-profit, early-stage tech/innovation accelerator. Its mission is to empower startup entrepreneurs with the required knowledge, skills, resources, support and investment to do more, successfully; to improve access, opportunity and support for a broader group of founders by being the gateway to an ecosystem of learning, subject matter experts, transformation and success.

What it reported doing in 2025

To build a diverse tech and innovation ecosystem in central Florida by investing time and resources in promising tech startups. To provide three world-class accelerator programs for founders of early-stage tech startups, offering the opportunity to learn the skills, competencies, business disciplines, best practice tools and access to other resources, including subject matter experts and coaching to significantly improve the chances of success. To provide pre-seed capital to early-stage technology companies that successfully graduate from the accelerator program and demonstrate significant growth potential with a broad reach of customers. Level the playing field by providing access to the available programs, resources and early-stage capital to all aspiring founders and members of our community. To continue to support our alumni and portfolio companies by connecting them to additional resources and organizations within the tech and innovation ecosystem to assist in the growth and scale phases of their entrepreneurial journey.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 82% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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.

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: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 57
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 73.8%; rating input score 74
  • Program expense ratio: 83.6%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.23 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: 11.9%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.32; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 26%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.9% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 73.8% of revenue deployed · 83.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $460K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $143K · 16 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2016 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 39/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 26/100.