The Poptech Institute

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
010518900
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Camden, ME, USA
Phone
2072302425
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$309,245
Expenses
$502,597
Assets
$4,706
Liabilities
$924,868

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LEETHA FILDERMAN (PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • LEETHA FILDERMAN (PRESIDENT)
  • KIMBERLY GARDINER (DIRECTOR)
  • RAJ GOLLAMUDI (TREASURER)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Poptech's mission is to accelerate the positive impact of world-changing people, projects and ideas. Founded in 1996 by bob metcalfe (inventor, ethernet) and john sculley (apple, pepsi), poptech originally provided a forum to critically debate the impact of technology on society. Today, the organization encompasses a much broader mission to explore and act on a portfolio of initiatives focused on advancing progress on social justice, peace and security, global health and income equity. The organization is supported by a diverse network of individuals and organizations that include nobel laureates, progressive politicians, inventors, artists, fortune 100 companies, philanthropists, as well as 180 alumni of the poptech social innovation and science fellows program. All have one thing in common, a passionate interest in solving challenges confronting humanity. Central to poptech's mission is a belief in the power of networked collaboration as a tool for social change. We consistently leve

What it reported doing in 2024

In 2024 poptech continued its commitment to the field of social innovation, futures strategy and training. Our programming and outcomes are focused on exploring sectors that are undergoing rapid change, experiencing disruption or contributing positively or negatively to the major challenges confronting humanity. In 2024 our portfolio of projects was primarily focused training and mentorship of early career scientists and convenings focused on the impact of emerging technology on society. We deliver on our mission through robust research, designing and facilitating solution- generating convenings and through the identification and training of emerging innovators and scientists. Our findings and discoveries are shared with various constituents through a variety of multi-media formats, as well as at the annual poptech thought forum, a globally regarded gathering of those dedicated to equitable human advancement. During 2024, we utilized a blend of virtual and in-person convening formats. The annual poptech forum was a live event in 2024, taking place at the kennedy center in Washington, dc. Poptech's social innovation fellows and science fellows programs represent core mission commitments of poptech. The programs were founded in 2008 and 2010 respectively. The goal of the programs is to accelerate the impact of future leaders, innovators and scientists through training, mentorship and recognition. The programs have produced a 200-member alumni network whose work has positively affected roughly 700 million people in over 120 countries worldwide. Poptech fellows have achieved their impact by: 1) creating transformational technology platforms that are deployed worldwide; 2) developing new distribution models that allow a product, service or humanitarian aid to be widely deployed; and 3) utilizing human-centered design principles to generate solutions that scale and replicate. Poptech's commitment to training emerging leaders through its fellows programs and its longstanding interest in exploring global challenges through incubated initiatives, exploratory convenings and consulting projects are exemplary of the organization's ability to facilitate unconventional cross-sector collaboration. Through these activities and more, poptech continues to be recognized as a leading participant in the field of social innovation and positive global change. Poptech initiatives are exemplar of our ability to facilitate unconventional cross-sector collaboration. In addition, poptech explores unique areas of global interest through poptech exploratories, consulting projects, as well as its annual thought leadership forum. Programs are provided in both virtual and live formats, dependent on the scope of the project. The production of impact and social change media is a key to poptech's mission. This capacity enables us to do unique reporting on projects and share insights, in addition to capturing our own work; we routinely create documentary bodies of work for select partners. We maintain a multi-decade archive of thought leadership talks and documentary projects on the poptech youtube channel that receives 1000s of unique visits each week. We routinely make this content available free of charge to a variety of organizations and institutions for educational and research purposes. Through these activities and more, poptech continues to be recognized as a standout organization in thought leadership, futures forecasting and cross-sector collaboration within the social innovation space.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 73% 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 11
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 64.6%; rating input score 65
  • Fundraising efficiency: $34.11 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings

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: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -62.5%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.01; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 196.53; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -22.4% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -21.1% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -26.7% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 64.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 9 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $325K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 10 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 4/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 2/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 0/100.