The Synergos Institute Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
133392006
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
6469632106
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
International Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,581,594
Expenses
$8,108,430
Assets
$22,283,930
Liabilities
$1,266,230

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

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CAMILLE MASSEY (PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • CAMILLE MASSEY (PRESIDENT & CEO): $332,273 total reported compensation
  • JACKIE KAZANTZIS (DIRECTOR, FINANCE & OPERATIONS): $181,380 total reported compensation
  • CHONG-LIM LEE (SENIOR DIRECTOR, GLOBAL PROGRAM): $176,362 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 synergos institute ("synergos") is a global nonprofit organization that helps solve complex issues around the world by advancing bridging leadership, which builds trust and collective action. We work on issues such as health, nutrition, agriculture, and youth employment.

What it reported doing in 2024

See schedule opartnerships - synergos builds collaborations on issues of national and regional importance, helping partners create systemic change and improved lives through bridging leadership. In nigeria, synergos works with state ministries of agriculture and others to enact multistakeholder approaches to agriculture, engaging government, private sector, civil society, and smallholder farms. In ethiopia, synergos supports the ministry of agriculture to engage agriculture sector partners, including efforts to increase productivity and household incomes of smallholder farmers in agricultural commercialization clusters for horticulture. In south africa, synergos is developing municipal and community leadership for improved service delivery and socio-economic development in communties. In bangladesh, synergos is leading a coalition of partners from across sectors to scale integrated community-based childcare centers for early childhood care and development including drowning prevention. In brazil, synergos strengthens collaboration and leadership capacity for improved working conditions and wellbeing of the country's public healthcare workers. In mena, synergos promotes social entrepreneurship to address community challenges including a youth civic engagement program in tunisia. In mexico, synergos provides training and support to leaders from across sectors for collaborative action on socio-economic challenges. These country program activities are driven by bridging leadership as the organization's approach to effecting lasting social change on complex challenges of poverty and social injustice.

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 82% 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 76
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 79%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.69 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • 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: Limited
    • May require repayment: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -45.3%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.75; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.8%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -5.6% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3.9% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.9% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 79% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 13 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $6.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $332K · 18 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $707K reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 16/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 31/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.