The Real Estate Board of New York Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
131201480
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2126165200
Rating
41
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$16,689,704
Expenses
$18,657,552
Assets
$24,867,283
Liabilities
$19,007,618

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

Leadership & pay

165 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JAMES WHELAN (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • JAMES WHELAN (PRESIDENT): $954,245 total reported compensation
  • SANDHYA ESPITIA (COO): $463,333 total reported compensation
  • NINVE JAMES (SVP): $407,206 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

1. To unite in common organization those professionally engaged in real estate. 2. To protect and promote the mutual interests of its members. 3. To formulate and maintain ethical standards for the guidance of its members in their relations with each other and the public. 4. To advocate necessary public improvements and oppose unnecessary or wasteful expenditures of public funds. 5. To promote and encourage the enactment of just and reasonable laws and ordinances affecting real estate and to oppose those that would be unjust and unreasonable. 6. To supply members with information they need to make sound business decisions. 7. To help real estate professionals meet state goverment licensing standards.

What it reported doing in 2024

Rebny was created in 1896 as the states first real estate trade association. It works on behalf of the mutual interests of its members by promoting public and industry policies. The organization frequently speaks before government bodies with the primary goals of expanding new yorks economy, encouraging the development and renovation of commercial and residential property, enhancing the citys appeal to investors and residents and facilitating property management. Members have access to the boards various real estate professional education programs, including state-certified required courses for licensing, continuing education courses and seminars to hone professional skills, and courses to maintain the ethical standards of relations between professionals and with the public. The policy & planning department, also at members disposal, undertakes projects to investigate current residential and commercial issues of importance to the industry; topics have included residential conversion trends and energy conservation techniques in high-rise office buildings. A zoning expert is also on hand to field a wide range of inquiries. This department publishes a number of important periodicals. Rebnys durst chairs' study, located at the midtown office, maintains the largest collection of real estate-related information of any New York city trade association. Aside from scores of professional journals, periodicals and reports on industry topics, it contains up-to-date computerized ownership and mortgage information files on properties in all five boroughs, as well as assessed valuation listings and current property maps. The board provides arbitration and mediation services when necessary to settle disputes whether between members, between members and their firms or between members and non-members. A qualified arbitrator or mediator that is acceptable to both parties will handle a particular matter. Once the parties reach an agreement, it is put in writing. Should an agreement not occur, the parties may submit to binding arbitration. The rebny listing service (rls) is a sharing of listings available to all rebny firms that are members of the residential brokerage division and non-member firms that receive revenue from the sale or rental of residential property located in the jurisdictions authorized by the residential board of directors. This system mandates that within 24 hours of being engaged as an exclusive agent, every rls member must initiate an offer of co-brokerage of all exclusive sale or rental listings located in the said jurisdictions to every other member of the rls system who has expressed in writing an interest in receiving such listings, unless directed not to do so by the seller.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 91% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 0
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 86
  • Sustainability: 20
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 0%; rating input score 0
  • Program expense ratio: 0%; rating input score 0
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: Scored; rating input score 0

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 98.7%; rating input score 99; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -11.8%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.33; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.76; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 26.4%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 0% of revenue deployed · 0% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 147 of 149 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $18.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $954K · 165 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $1.2M reported
  • Consistency: 15 of 16 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 16 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 6 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Related-party transparency scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 47/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 2/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 15/100.