Third Act Education Fund Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
934139858
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2023
Location
Nassau, NY, USA
Phone
3109290336
Rating
67
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,371,098
Expenses
$1,570,119
Assets
$836,130
Liabilities
$35,151

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • VANESSA ARCARA (PRESIDENT)
  • KAFIA AHMED (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • KAFIA AHMED (CEO): $162,500 total reported compensation
  • VANESSA ARCARA (PRESIDENT): $162,119 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Educating americans over the age of sixty about the impacts of the climate crisis and solutions to build a fair and stable planet.

What it reported doing in 2024

Third act is mobilizing older americans to champion a clean energy transition. In 2024, third act trained over 500 participants across all 50 states through a three-part public utility commission leadership series, enabling more than two dozen volunteer-led working groups to influence energy regulatory decisions by providing testimony, submitting comments, and holding commissioners accountable. We rallied 40,000 costco customers to pressure them to drop fossil fuel-funding citi as their credit card provider, delivered 3,000+ handwritten postcards, and are now in direct engagement with costco's ceo and vp of admin, who committed to engaging citi about the campaign. Concurrently, we mobilized over 36,000 people to pledge to move their money away from major fossil-fuel- financing banks, and assembled a full suite of resources and media to assist people wanting to align their money with their values. And we brought our volunteer leaders together representing 39,000 volunteers at east and west coast convergences to learn and collaborate. We hosted a racial justice series, hope and joy webinars, and trained hundreds of working group leaders in web editing and communications. By fostering leadership at every level, we ensure that our movement is inclusive, empowered, and prepared to tackle challenges.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 56% for direct work, and 44% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 67
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 55
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 56.4%; rating input score 56
  • Program expense ratio: 85.2%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $30.58 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 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: 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: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: 33.8%; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.53; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: Limited

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: Limited
  • Asset growth: Limited

Details

  • Where the money goes: 56.4% of revenue deployed · 85.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $162K · 5 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: 2 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 56/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 19/100.