Unavco Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
841588357
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2022
Forms available
Form 990 2022
Location
Boulder, CO, USA
Phone
7203184781
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Cancer

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$18,363,438
Expenses
$18,742,592
Assets
$0
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2022. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • REBECCA BENDICK KIER (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • REBECCA BENDICK KIER (PRESIDENT): $307,729 total reported compensation
  • GLEN MATTIOLI (DIRECTOR GEODETIC INFRASTRUCTURE): $228,251 total reported compensation
  • KARL FEAUX (ENGINEERING MANAGER III): $192,553 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2022. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Unavco, a non-profit university-governed consortium, facilitates geoscience research and education using geodesy.

What it reported doing in 2022

Unavco operates a science support facility that advances academic research and education, specific to applications of modern geodesy to the geosciences. With core funding primarily from the national science foundation and also from nasa, services include provision of services to academic scientists and educators. These include (1) construction and engineering of gnss and borehole geophysics networks that also serve as a platform for other, colocated geophysical observations, (2) gnss and lidar geodetic instrumentation for shorter-term fielddeployments, (3) development and testing services to support integration of emerging geodetic technologies, (4) data management and access systems for gnss, lidar and synthetic aperture radar (sar), and (5) education and outreach services including short courses to support investigators using new technologies, support for integration of new geodetic applications into undergraduate curricula, student support, and outreach via social media.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 93% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 97% 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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 67
  • Accountability: 86
  • Sustainability: 14
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83.6%; rating input score 84
  • Program expense ratio: 81.9%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -2.1%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.2%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -2.5% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -1.6% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -4% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 83.6% of revenue deployed · 81.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $15.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $308K · 19 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $690K reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2010 to 2022
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 15 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 5 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 25/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.