The Bell Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
043182053
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Needham, MA, USA
Phone
6177400400
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$13,795,736
Expenses
$23,761,947
Assets
$18,472,676
Liabilities
$1,983,167

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LAUREN GILBERT (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
  • ANTONIO BATTAGLIA (PRESIDENT & CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • LAUREN GILBERT (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $588,255 total reported compensation
  • ANTONIO BATTAGLIA (PRESIDENT & CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $515,578 total reported compensation
  • BARBARA ADAMUS (CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER): $425,724 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 transform the academic achievements, self-confidence, and life trajectories of children.

What it reported doing in 2024

The organization provides innovative solutions, services and resources to scale and create meaningful impact across a variety of settings and communities. The organization has a software-as-a-service model created through a proprietary platform, arly, that enables partners to scale and strengthen their youth development programming. It includes features such as program configuration, staff and scholar management, family communications, professional learning management system, evaluation, and other resources. The organization's complete youth program management solution provides a pathway for rapid scale and drive better outcomes. As bellxcel seeks to address the urgent need for quality, affordable youth program opportunities, arly empowers providers with tools and resources that increase efficiency and improve operations, so they can focus on what really matterselevating the potential of the children they serve. The "all-in-one place" platform solution provides easy access to content, practices, tools, templates and resources backed by the organization's years of experience and expert validation.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 19
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 79.4%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.43 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • 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: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 23rd 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: -72.2%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.78; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.4%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.8% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -2.1% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 79.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 11 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $18.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $588K · 17 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.8M reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 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.
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 1/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 28/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.