Understanding Government

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
522145259
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2012–2012
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2012
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2027758080
Rating
88
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Public, Society Benefit N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$178,276
Expenses
$189,521
Assets
$1,755

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2012. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2012. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Dedicated to improving the performance of the Executive branch of federal, state, and local government by stimulating more informed reporting and analysis of the activities of government agencies.

What it reported doing in 2012

2012 was devoted largely to building and launching GIMBY (Government in My Backyard) at www.gimby.org. GIMBY is designed to help the public engage with federal agencies around the U.S. and see what federal agencies are doing in communities around the country. Work included hiring editorial staff, finalizing the content strategy for GIMBY, finalizing the sites look and feel, and developing and writing initial content for the site including brief profiles of dozens of federal agencies and the issues they are responsible for handling. The site was launched in July 2012 and the remainder of 2012 was devoted to developing new reporting and blogging capabilities for the site, including new news and features blogs including Government from the Ground Up and the Backyard Fence, and a blog about Inspectors General in the U.S. government called Inspected. GIMBY was successful in attracting thousands of readers per month during 2012.A new newsletter for GIMBY was also developed called GIMBY Headliner and a major new social media strategy launched by GIMBYs managing editor. Intensive networking with foundations, journalists, and social media specialists on GIMBY goals and content strategy.

Operating model

Revenue model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 94
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 10
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 96%; rating input score 96
  • Program expense ratio: 90.3%; rating input score 90

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -6.3%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.01; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: Limited

Growth

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

Details

  • Where the money goes: 96% of revenue deployed · 90.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 2 filed program accomplishments · $171K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • 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.

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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 20/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 2/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.