The National Center on Education and the Economy
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 521539258
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2023791800
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Research Institutes and Public Policy Analysis
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $19,363,407
- Expenses
- $20,355,143
- Assets
- $71,663,573
- Liabilities
- $6,956,490
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
16 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Vicki Phillips (CEO)
- Jason S Dougal (President/Treasurer)
Highest reported compensation
- Vicki Phillips (CEO): $608,239 total reported compensation
- Jason S Dougal (President/Treasurer): $536,872 total reported compensation
- Stacy Galiatsos (Chief Growth & Development): $319,648 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 Center is dedicated to providing tools the nation needs to lead the world in education & training in a swiftly globalizing world economy.
What it reported doing in 2024
Field Building: The Field Building program oversees NCEE's client-facing engagements -- from the initial engagement to the launch and support of work with partners, and the evaluation of the effectiveness of that work. The program provides a cohesive, aligned system of supports across all levels of U.S. education based on a shared research foundation. More than three decades of research by NCEE on the top-performing education systems in the world has been embedded into each of these supports. NCEE's flagship NISL program, formerly the Executive Development Program for School Leaders, has several studies demonstrating its effectiveness at improving student achievement. Thousands of school leaders have completed the program since it was launched in 2005.
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 the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 79
- Transparency & Controls: 69
- Accountability: 94
- Sustainability: 41
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 87.6%; rating input score 88
- Program expense ratio: 79.4%; rating input score 79
- Fundraising efficiency: $9.52 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
- Requires narrative reports: Limited
- Conducts field audits: Limited
- May suspend future funding: Limited
- Requires financial reports: Limited
- Conducts site visits: Limited
- Requires grant agreements: Pass
- May require repayment: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 50%; rating input score 50; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 21st 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: -5.1%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.52; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 13.3%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -4.1% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 0.1% per year; rating input score 100; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -3.5% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 87.6% of revenue deployed · 79.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 9 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $16.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $608K · 16 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1M reported
- Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 8 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 37/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 50/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 16/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.