Superbloom Design

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
472462310
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2018
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
9147522230
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Research Institutes and Public Policy Analysis

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,583,212
Expenses
$1,820,987
Assets
$208,888
Liabilities
$349,000

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • GEORGIA BULLEN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • GEORGIA BULLEN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $49,400 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The mission of superbloom is to educate the public on the principles and practice of researching and responding to real-world user needs for software. This includes developing and designing human-software interaction patterns and performing research that expands public understanding of the principles and practices of software usability. It also includes work to increase awareness of software usability by facilitating communication and collaboration among software users, researchers, designers, program managers, policy makers, and technologists.

What it reported doing in 2024

General program activities including producing educational resources and performing community outreach. Educational resources are made freely available online and include case studies, reviews, and reports on research that we have conducted into design and usability for security, privacy, and transparency features of software. Community outreach includes building professional connections among the communities that are primary partners for and beneficiaries of our work - technologists, designers, researchers, program managers and policymakers through online meetings, at a variety of professional and scholarly gatherings and online. Fellowships - support of research work being performed by fellows, who perform research and community building activities. Our fellow activities include work aligned with core programmatic work at superbloom, eg research studies, community events, presentations, and community engagement. This program has resulted in research reports which have been or will be made publicly available for free through our website.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 68% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 55
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 14
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92.5%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 80.4%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $15.9 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 52; 52nd 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: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -15%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.11; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.67; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.7%; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 19.3% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17.8% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -17.4% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 92.5% of revenue deployed · 80.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $1.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $49K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2016 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 52/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 12/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 5/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 3/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 57/100.