EdTrust

Legal name: The Education Trust Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
521982223
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2022931217
Rating
88
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$33,239,997
Expenses
$32,195,593
Assets
$77,134,809
Liabilities
$15,471,600

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

Leadership & pay

25 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Denise Forte (President & CEO)
  • Wil Del Pilar (Senior Vice President)
  • Christopher Nellum (Executive Director, ETW)
  • Amber Arellano (Executive Director, ETM)

Highest reported compensation

  • Denise Forte (President & CEO): $510,573 total reported compensation
  • Wil Del Pilar (Senior Vice President): $338,824 total reported compensation
  • Christopher Nellum (Executive Director, ETW): $284,060 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

EdTrust believes that every student has the right to access a high-quality education that will allow them to live the life of their choosing, regardless of race, ethnicity, class, or identity.

What it reported doing in 2024

The P-12 Policy, Practice, and Research and Higher Education Policy and Research Teams work alongside educators, advocates, and policymakers to identify causes of the achievement gap and to promote the practices and policies for P-12 education, and work to ensure that students of color and students from low-income backgrounds have greater access to colleges and universities, and that those institutions make college affordable.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 93% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 92
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 51
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 93.9%; rating input score 94
  • Program expense ratio: 93.6%; rating input score 94
  • Fundraising efficiency: $39.5 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 98.7%; rating input score 99; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 90%; rating input score 90; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: 3.1%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.4; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.9%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.6% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.9% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 8 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 6 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 93.9% of revenue deployed · 93.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 10 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $30.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $511K · 25 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $906K reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 57 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 43 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 47/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 58/100.