Uncommon Friends Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
650490124
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Fort Myers, FL, USA
Phone
7403617321
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Historical Societies, Related Historical Activities

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$530,968
Expenses
$471,020
Assets
$520,929
Liabilities
$52,270

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARC COLLINS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • BRIAN RIST (PRESIDENT EMERITUS)
  • KRISTALYN ATWOOD (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • RYAN DOYLE (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • MARC COLLINS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $80,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The foundation's mission is to promote character education in schools, business ethics in the workplace and historic preservation of the burroughs home and james newton archives.

What it reported doing in 2025

Historic preservation and education: the foundation and name evolved from james d. Newton's book, uncommon friends, relating to his experiences and observations of those who were influential in shaping the twentieth century (such as thomas a. Edison, henry ford, harvey firestone, alexis carrel and charles lindbergh). The foundation seeks to collect, preserve and exhibit archival and three-dimensional materials related to newton. In 2008, the foundation moved into the historic 1901 burroughs home and restored it to display the newton collection. Historical tours are given to adults and children touring the national historic registered burroughs home.

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 90% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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 the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 56
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 48
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 58%; rating input score 58
  • Program expense ratio: 64.1%; rating input score 64
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.99 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 38.5%; rating input score 38; 31st 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 11.3%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.11; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 17%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.1% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 58% of revenue deployed · 64.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $302K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $80K · 17 people listed
  • Consistency: 34 of 35 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

Key Signals

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

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 58/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 38/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 20/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 59/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 35/100.