The Support Sight Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
831475951
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2023
Forms available
Form 990 2023, Form 990-EZ 2018
Location
Bala Cynwyd, PA, USA
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Eye Diseases, Blindness and Vision Impairments

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$329,158
Expenses
$289,774
Assets
$357,350
Liabilities
$10,071

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

1 person listed

Highest reported compensation

  • DAWN PRALL (DIRECTOR): $115,846 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Empower and educate sight-impaired individuals and their families with disease education knowledge, tools and technology so they may live more independently and maintain a high quality of life.

What it reported doing in 2023

Provide research grants and patient education

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 61% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 91% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 63
  • Transparency & Controls: 95
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 49
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 62.7%; rating input score 63
  • Program expense ratio: 70.9%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.14 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 12%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.23; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 40%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.8% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.6% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 15.4% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 62.7% of revenue deployed · 70.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $205K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $116K · 1 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 23 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2019 to 2023
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 40/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.