United Financial Counselors Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
274548562
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2015
Forms available
Form 990 2015
Location
Hollywood, FL, USA
Phone
9543724370
Rating
64
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Financial Counseling

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$552,061
Expenses
$504,387
Assets
$50,222
Liabilities
$24,617

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2015. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JASON WALOWITZ (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • JASON WALOWITZ (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $130,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2015. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

See Schedule O

What it reported doing in 2015

United Financial Counselors U.F.C is organized to help consumers and homeowners break their dependence of debt and to help enrich their lives through financial independence. The organization conducted 47 seminars throughout the 2015 fiscal year, in which 23,210 participatns attended. These seminars covered foreclosure prevention, first time home-buying education and financial literacy. Most of the seminars were in partnership with the cities of South Florida City of Miramar, Hollywood, Sunrise, etc. U.F.C. provided one-on-one assitance to 1,102 homeowners through their floreclosure mitigation program, 41 tenants regarding tenant / landlod issues, and met with 2,108 first time home-buyers to prepare them for home ownership, budgeting courses, and down payment assistance counseling.

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 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 a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 43
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 66
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 46.1%; rating input score 46
  • Program expense ratio: 50.5%; rating input score 51
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.26 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 8.6%; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.1; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.49; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 25.8%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17.1% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 34.3% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 103.9% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 46.1% of revenue deployed · 50.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $504K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $130K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2013 to 2015
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 46/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 51/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 7/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.