Thomas B Fordham Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 316032844
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2019–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Burke, VA, USA
- Phone
- 2022235452
- Rating
- 60
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,904,104
- Expenses
- $2,606,540
- Assets
- $82,318,168
- Liabilities
- $994,421
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
15 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Michael J Petrilli (President And Trustee)
- Chester E Finn Jr (President Emeritus And Trustee)
Highest reported compensation
- Michael J Petrilli (President And Trustee): $464,521 total reported compensation
- Amber M Northern (Senior VP For Research): $346,699 total reported compensation
- Chad L Aldis (VP For Ohio Policy And Advocacy): $316,752 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 Thomas B. Fordham Foundation supports the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, the nation's leader in advancing educational excellence, by providing quality research, analysis and commentary, as well as on-the-ground action and advocacy in Ohio.
What it reported doing in 2024
Supporting national education policy reform: supports the Thomas B. Fordham institutes efforts to produce research studies and commentary on national education policy issues. Our national policy work in 2024 focused on promoting evidence-based practices in the wake of the covid pandemic; promoting high quality career and technical education; and expanding high quality charter schools and other schools of choice.
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 88% 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: 33
- Transparency & Controls: 70
- Accountability: 87
- Sustainability: 68
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 28.1%; rating input score 28
- Program expense ratio: 52.6%; rating input score 53
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- 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: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: 90.5%; rating input score 90; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 77.8%; rating input score 78; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 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: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 10.2%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 31.58; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 86.2%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.5% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 12.2% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 28.1% of revenue deployed · 52.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 9 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $1.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $465K · 15 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 23 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 9 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 28/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 53/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 0/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.