Technology Advancement Center Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
825030336
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2017
Location
Columbia, MD, USA
Phone
4436264450
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$11,989,427
Expenses
$22,666,957
Assets
$14,184,424
Liabilities
$7,074,916

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Chris Hollifield (CEO/Director)

People named in this filing

  • Chris Hollifield (CEO/Director)
  • David Tohn (Board Member)
  • Tom Sadowski (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. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The Technology Advancement Center, Inc. is a 501(c)(4) not for profit dedicated to the study, test, evaluation, rapid prototyping, and community of interest outreach to industry, academia, k12, and state and local and federal government. Our work accelerates the confidence needed to make investments in cybersecurity solutions, companies and helps organizations discover cybersecurity and related technologies that align with current and future requirements.

What it reported doing in 2024

The Technology Advancement Center, Inc. (TAC) is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) entity chartered in the state of Maryland. TAC's facilities are a combination of state-of-the-art facilities, innovative programs, and imaginative people charged with finding that spark that leads to unparalleled capability for our partners. Through a partnership intermediary agreement (PIA) between TAC and USCYBERCOM, TAC enables USCYBERCOM and its partners to engage nontraditional partners to accelerate mission success. TAC has achieved success with projects advancing malware analysis, opensource threat intelligence sharing platforms, protecting against social media disinformation, computer vision, zero thrust network prototyping, and redesigning risk management frameworks. TAC evaluated commercial products to assess fit and feasibility for use within defined network parameters. TAC hosted five rapid prototyping events (RPES) to help identify and accelerate the path to violable solutions. TAC expanded its physical and virtual lab environments used for prototyping solutions, refining standard operating procedures in cyber defense operations, and skill development. TAC's innovation facilities are a choice location for organizations to hold strategic planning meetings or collaborations with partners as a nearby "offsite" with flexibility to accommodate in person meetings augmented with virtual platforms capabilities. TAC hosted in person, virtual, and hybrid events focused on increasing cyber security skills, capabilities, and awareness. TAC also built virtual collaboration platforms utilized to continue technical talks, demonstrations, and collaboration sessions during the pandemic. TAC's new capabilities were utilized by training organizations to create videos that spark interest and provide valuable resources to staff regardless of where they were now working and to host partners to bring a level of professionalism to their virtual participation. Similarly, TAC's facilities are a choice location for workforce development and outreach events. During 2022, TAC's internships provided high school and college students experience working side-by-side with subject matter experts solving real-world, mission-relevant technical challenges. TAC hosted programs specifically designed for students at minority serving institutions to help strengthen the nation's stem hiring pipeline.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 96% 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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 61
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 21
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 82%; rating input score 82
  • Program expense ratio: 45.2%; rating input score 45
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 10th 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -89.1%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.63; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.5; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -2% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.1% per year; rating input score 100; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 17.8% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 82% of revenue deployed · 45.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $10.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.6M reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 45/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 1/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 21/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 29/100.