Technology Matters

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
882116913
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Palo Alto, CA, USA
Phone
6502069211
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Engineering and Technology

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,193,112
Expenses
$3,856,841
Assets
$2,002,120
Liabilities
$228,658

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JAMES R FRUCHTERMAN (CEO)
  • NICHOLAS HURLBURT (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ASELO)

Highest reported compensation

  • NICHOLAS HURLBURT (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ASELO): $215,450 total reported compensation
  • PAUL SCHREIBER (DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING): $180,889 total reported compensation
  • JAMES R FRUCHTERMAN (CEO): $177,282 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To create technology to help hundreds of social sector organizations solve a common social problem.

What it reported doing in 2024

Field building: tech matters provides a range of resources to support the wider application of technology to the social impact field broadly. This includes our no-charge brief consultations with nonprofit leaders, regular talks and articles on tech for good, and a podcast series featuring the leaders of technology nonprofits. During 2024, we worked on "technology for good," the first book on how to start nonprofit tech enterprises, with a planned publication date in 2025. We are also actively working on an initiative called the "better deal for data," a lightweight approach to responsible data use in the social sector, modeled after the open source and creative commons movements, which included user research and the publication of research papers on the topic of data governance.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 70% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 81
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75.6%; rating input score 76
  • Program expense ratio: 82%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8,526.41 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Fail
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 8%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.52; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 33.2%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -7.2% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -24.2% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.5% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 75.6% of revenue deployed · 82% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $3.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $215K · 11 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $146K reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 9 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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: 8 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 18/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 58/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 56/100.