Tesseract Research Center Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
274552853
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2024032289
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,087,531
Expenses
$3,665,238
Assets
$494,452
Liabilities
$598,825

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ERICA PAYNE (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • ERICA PAYNE (PRESIDENT): $333,805 total reported compensation
  • JODIE RUBENSTEIN (TREASURER/SECRETARY): $221,715 total reported compensation
  • HOLLI WOODINGS (VP GOVT AFFAIRS): $202,945 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Tesseract research center, inc. Is a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering and promoting knowledge of public policy through research, publications, and events.

What it reported doing in 2025

Patriotic millionaires focuses on building a more stable, prosperous, and inclusive nation by promoting public policies based on the "first principles" of equal political representation, a guaranteed living wage for all working citizens, and a fair tax system. The program strives to ensure that:1)all citizens should enjoy political power equal to that enjoyed by millionaires; and 2)all citizens who work full time should be able to afford their basic needs; tax receipts from millionaires, billionaires and corporations should make up a greater proportion of federal tax receipts.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 90% 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 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: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 45
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 5
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 88.3%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 74.4%; rating input score 74
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.77 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 11th 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: 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: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 17th 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: -18.7%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.13; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.21; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 29.3%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.1% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1% per year; rating input score 100; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.6% per year; rating input score 100; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 88.3% of revenue deployed · 74.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $334K · 12 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 31 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2012 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

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.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 31/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 2/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.