Strada Education Foundation

Legal name: Strada Collaborative Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
861250084
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2023
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2023, Form 990-T 2023
Location
Indianapolis, IN, US
Phone
317-806-1200
Rating
65
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$74,422,160
Expenses
$127,845,259
Assets
$0
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • THOMAS DAWSON (PRESIDENT/CHAIRMAN)
  • RUTH WHITE (PRESIDENT - ITK)
  • MICHAEL MARRINER (PRESIDENT - RTN)
  • EARL BUFORD (PRESIDENT - CAEL)
  • JAIME NUNEZ (PRESIDENT - EAW)

Highest reported compensation

  • RUTH WATKINS (BOARD MEMBER): $1,022,097 total reported compensation
  • LARRY LUTZ (BOARD MEMBER/VICE CHAIR): $725,150 total reported compensation
  • MICHAEL AUSTIN (TREASURER): $714,594 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Strada Education Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening the connection between education and employment, with a focus on creating equitable pathways to opportunity for all learners.

What it reported doing in 2023

Coaching & guidance - to inspire and empower students to find their life path through educational curricla and hands-on experiences associated with said curricula.implements coaching (i.e., training an individual for the purpose of improving or developing capabiliites) programs that improve educational and career outcomes for learners including adult, distance and underrepresented populations. Coaching activities include face to face coaching at educational institutions and employers, and remote coaching by phone, email and virtual communication methods to increase the accessibiity of coaching to distance, adult, military and other learners. Provides instruction to educational institutions on how to coach students, including how to develop coaching models tailored to key student populations such as military, distance, and underrepresented students.includes curriculum and other media content designed to help learners identify careers based on their interests and video testimonials from professionals in relevant fields who share their backgrounds. The content is distributed to a wide variety of different partners including state and local governments and local workforce agencies. Create and maintain a membership organization that provides a newsletter, webinars and job aides along with an annual conference.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 64% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 52% for direct work, and 48% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 76
  • Accountability: 32
  • Sustainability: 5
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 80.4%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.47 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th 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: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.9%; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -71.8%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 71.7% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3.3% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -200% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 80.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 5 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $102.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $1M · 17 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.4M reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2022 to 2023
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 18 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 10 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.

  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 29/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 1/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 36/100.