The Education and Research Foundation of the Bbb of Metro Ny Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
136263835
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2125337500
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education

Reported finances

Revenue
$405,758
Expenses
$373,554
Assets
$1,331,418
Liabilities
$161,447

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

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CLAIRE ROSENZWEIG (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • CLAIRE ROSENZWEIG (PRESIDENT): $47,500 total reported compensation
  • STEVEN LONDON (CONTROLLER (THRU APR 2024)): $8,777 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The education and research foundation of the bbb (r) of metro ny collaborates with metro New York's bbb to create, fund, and implement educational programs and projects on charity accountability, business responsibility, leadership, and consumer issues. The foundation performs charity evaluations based on the bbb standards for charity accountability.

What it reported doing in 2024

Charity accountability: the core program is the charity accountability program (nycap). Through this program, the foundation promotes charitable giving in New York state by encouraging nonprofit practices that merit donor trust. The foundation educates charity leaders about how to meet the bbb standards for charity accountability. It evaluates charity performance against the bbb standards and publishes bbb charity reports stating its findings online at give.org for the benefit of the public.as of december 2024, there were 767 published metro ny bbb charity reports. Charities meeting all bbb standards automatically become bbb accredited charities, at no cost. The foundation licenses use of its optional bbb accredited charity seal, featuring the bbb's trademark as a symbol of accountability, only to eligible charities that have first met all bbb standards. Bbb seal holders sign a licensing agreement and pay a sliding-scale fee, based on charity fundraising revenue size, for permitted uses of the bbb seal.

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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 53
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 73.4%; rating input score 73
  • Program expense ratio: 76.3%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: $13.42 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 7.9%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.56; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15.1%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -4.1% per year; rating input score 0; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -4% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 73.4% of revenue deployed · 76.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $285K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $48K · 16 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 47/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 56/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.