Tolstoy Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
131661609
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2020
Forms available
Form 990 2020
Location
Valley Cottage, NY, USA
Phone
8452686890
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,172,102
Expenses
$574,878
Assets
$1,872,134
Liabilities
$332,853

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • VICTORIA WOHLSEN (Executive Direc): $50,000 total reported compensation
  • CATHERINE LARIN (OPH DIRECTOR): $42,906 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Maintains a center for cultural activities and an adult residential community.

What it reported doing in 2020

Center for russian cultural activities, records & archives

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 81% 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 45
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 75
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 20.1%; rating input score 20
  • Program expense ratio: 75.8%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: $62.9 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 5th 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: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 73.5%; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.26; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.18; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 16.2%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.4% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 12.3% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -15.4% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 20.1% of revenue deployed · 75.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $436K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $50K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2010 to 2020
  • 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.
  • 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.

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: Mission deployment rate scored 20/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 50/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.