Stem Advocacy Institute Aka Civic Science Media Lab

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
823902027
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2017–2024
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2024
Location
Boston, MA, USA
Phone
7749879467
Rating
90
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Reported finances

Revenue
$52,714
Expenses
$97,457
Assets
$73,939
Liabilities
$708

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • FANUEL MUINDI (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

People named in this filing

  • FANUEL MUINDI (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
  • JESSICA W TSAI (BOARD MEMBER)
  • NATHAN VANDERFORD (BOARD MEMBER)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

To provide access to research, infrastructure, mentorship, community, training, and funding for scholars and practitioners to study, experiment, explore and ultimately build the next generation of programs and tools that tackle complex challenges at the intersection of science and society.

What it reported doing in 2024

Residency collective - this program supports independent storytellers and journalists covering developments in informal science education, science communication, and civic science public engagement. During the reporting period, the team collectively conducted nearly 100 interviews with civic science scholars and practitioners, resulting in video, audio, and digital articles that surfaced emerging field insights to a growing audience of more than 4,000 across platforms.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 93% 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.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 20
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 67.1%; rating input score 67

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -84.9%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.76; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 32.3%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 32.9% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 26.4% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 32.2% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 67.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 2 filed program accomplishments · $65K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • 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.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 29/100.