Tennessee Educational Technology Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
270043671
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Johnson City, TN, USA
Phone
4233297220
Rating
67
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$880,966
Expenses
$959,629
Assets
$446,250
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Jill Pierce (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Jill Pierce (Executive Director): $54,625 total reported compensation
  • Melony Surrett (Chief Financial Officer): $17,250 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

TETA is committed to promoting the effective use of technology in education to transform teaching and learning with the purpose of advancing student achievement, and improving business practices in school districts across Tennessee.

What it reported doing in 2025

Each year TETA awards the Perry Brown Memorial Professional Development Scholarship, the Joan Gray Award, and the Howard Cisco Award to selected TETA members. The scholarship/awards allow the recipients to attend ISTE or CoSn, both of which are technology conferences. Covered costs include conference registration, lodging, per diem, and travel to/from the event, capped at 3,000 per recipient.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 95% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 66
  • Transparency & Controls: 66
  • Accountability: 77
  • Sustainability: 29
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 76.2%; rating input score 76
  • Program expense ratio: 70.3%; rating input score 70
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 44
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -8.9%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.47; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.5%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17.3% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17.4% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.3% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 76.2% of revenue deployed · 70.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $674K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $55K · 17 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 16 of 16 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 44/100.