The Blind Relief Fund of Philadelphia

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
231409704
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2017
Forms available
Form 990 2017
Location
Philadelphia, PA, USA
Phone
2154871444
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Eye Diseases, Blindness and Vision Impairments

Reported finances

Revenue
$75,289
Expenses
$368,471
Assets
$866,834
Liabilities
$107,447

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2017. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • COURT ANDERSON (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • STEPHEN J HARRIS (Executive Direc): $89,159 total reported compensation
  • STEPHANIE DABROWSKI (Secretary): $36,031 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2017. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Provide assistance to blind people living in philadelphia, pa

What it reported doing in 2017

Assistance to blind people living in philadelphia. The goal is to keep each client in an environment with which they are familiar to enable each client to become more self sufficient. Client services provided range from financial assistnace, home visitation, telephone visitation, transportation services and social events.

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 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 the required major-donor schedule is missing or incomplete.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 56
  • Sustainability: 18
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 78%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.11 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: No; rating input score 0
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 77.8%; rating input score 78; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -389.4%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.35; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 34%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -14.1% per year; rating input score 0; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -81.1% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -21.1% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 78% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 9 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $288K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $89K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2015 to 2017
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Major donor itemization scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 35/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 20/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.