Synaptic Sparks, Inc.
Legal name: Synaptic Sparks Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 462574583
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2019–2020
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2020, Form 990-N 2015
- Location
- Orlando, FL, USA
- Phone
- (205) 774-8324
- Rating
- 45
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Remedial Reading, Reading Encouragement
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $269,999
- Expenses
- $260,834
- Assets
- $119,561
- Liabilities
- $108,666
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CHRISTOPHER MEYER (PRESIDENT)
- Elizabeth Wiggins (Vice President)
People named in this filing
- Michael Kalaf (COO)
- DAVID MAYNARD (CTO)
- Beau Hollis (Software Engineer)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Empowering Future Generations with the Technology of Tomorrow
What it reported doing in 2020
Offer school and classroom presentations, competitions, and conferences on topics pertaining to science, technology, engineering and math (stem). Topics of these presentations include, but are not limited to , all k12 levels of mathematics, basic biology/chemistry, physics, all k12 levels of computer science and programming, smart/mobile/tablet(device) technologies, educational nviedo game usage and history, and general topics of engineering.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 93% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program 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.
The verdict
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of voting board members are independent.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 39
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Accountability: 12
- Sustainability: 34
- Growth: 20
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 43.3%; rating input score 43
- Program expense ratio: 44.8%; rating input score 45
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 3.4%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.46; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.91; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -55.5% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -12.4% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 6 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 43.3% of revenue deployed · 44.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 0 of 4 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $117K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 21 of 22 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2019 to 2020
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 43/100.
- High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 45/100.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 41/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 17/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 7/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.