The Diversity Pledge Institute

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
872279153
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2021
Location
Parrysburg, OH, USA
Phone
8163046186
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Employment Procurement Assistance

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$138,091
Expenses
$152,059
Assets
$12,875
Liabilities
$14,138

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LARRY GRAHAM (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • LARRY GRAHAM (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $63,423 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The diversity pledge institute operates a free mentorship, training and career-advancement program for journalists, with emphasis on people of color and members of the lgbtq+ community. The diversity pledge institute addresses newsroom diversity by working with employers to improve the hiring and retention of journalists of color. The diversity pledge institute also identifies skilled journalists of color and prepares them for what's next. We also train newsrooms that hired us to help them land the right candidate.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025, we worked with 221 journalists and provided them with more than 335 hours of direct mentorship, training and support. That's the equivalent to 2 full months of real-world, personalized help. We've provided aid to journalists who were wrongfully terminated, helping them navigate severance negotiations and job searches. We've granted moving expenses and site-visit loans to journalists from marginalized communities who would have remained unemployed without our help. We've exposed countless journalists to leadership training they didn't know existed.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 85% 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 12
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78.8%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 71.6%; rating input score 72
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -10.1%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.08; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.1; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 41.7%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -32.4% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.6% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -36.1% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 78.8% of revenue deployed · 71.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $109K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $63K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 19/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 6/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 3/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.