The True Professional
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 932387164
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2024–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2023
- Location
- Maplewood, NJ, USA
- Phone
- 9736322160
- Rating
- 70
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Human Services N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $296,407
- Expenses
- $225,465
- Assets
- $97,380
- Liabilities
- $2,169
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ELLEN ZIMILES (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
People named in this filing
- ELLEN ZIMILES (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
- JONAH ZIMILES (TREASURER)
- ELIZABETH SHEA (SECRETARY)
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 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The true professional's mission is to improve the quality of services to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities by providing professional development and consulting services to the staff and leadership at residential agencies serving this community.
What it reported doing in 2025
Ttp initiated development of a second program, excellence in supports and outcomes ("eso") consulting. This work focused on designing a new service model intended to further strengthen the quality of supports provided to individuals with idd, while also improving workforce stability and effectiveness. Key activities included: 1) defining program goals, 2) developing an implementation framework which included policies and procedures and roles and responsibilities, and 3) authoring a research-based paper examining strategies to improve professionalism in service quality across multiple industries and apply those lessons to idd services. During this development phase, ttp also identified a pilot agency to support initial implementation and refinement of the eso model. The mission of the eso function is to achieve higher quality supports and outcomes for residents by promoting dignity, lifelong learning, independence, and community integration in alignment with ttp's 5cs, while also increasing job satisfaction and reducing attrition among dsps and residential managers. The strategy to achieve this mission centers on systemically redesigning staff development to continuously prioritize, assess, and improve service quality in an efficient and sustainable manner while maintaining compliance standards. Eso is designed to create a culture of ongoing, hands-on professional development that elevates professionalism and service quality, and to ensure that all employees embrace the 5cs and are accountable for their implementation.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 67% 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 - 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: 47
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 82
- Sustainability: 54
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 44%; rating input score 44
- Program expense ratio: 57.9%; rating input score 58
- Fundraising efficiency: $6.88 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 28; 28th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 23.9%; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.43; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 19.9% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 31.9% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 51.7% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 44% of revenue deployed · 57.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $130K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 44/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 58/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 28/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 22/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.