Upsolve Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 821736267
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2018–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2017
- Location
- New York, NY, USA
- Phone
- 2695689257
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Public Interest Law
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,096,442
- Expenses
- $1,974,364
- Assets
- $4,406,125
- Liabilities
- $1,005,697
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JONATHAN PETTS (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- JEFFREY ZHOU (CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER): $241,846 total reported compensation
- BEN JACKSON (CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER): $236,510 total reported compensation
- JONATHAN PETTS (CEO): $223,719 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Upsolve's mission is to educate, empower, and serve underprivileged, distressed, and vulnerable populations throughout the united states by helping them access their civil rights and liberties secured by law.
What it reported doing in 2024
Legal related and education services upsolve provides free financial and legal education, free online community, access to free evaluations, and free technology tools to underprivileged, distressed, and low-income individuals. In 2024, almost two and a half million people visited upsolve's website to consume its free education and over 2,700 people filed using upsolve's bankruptcy technology tools. In 2024, upsolve members confirmed relieving over $134 million in debt by filing bankruptcy forms they generated with our tools.upsolve also promotes equal rights under the law through public education, advocacy, and community-based partnerships.
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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 61
- Transparency & Controls: 79
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 49
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 64.9%; rating input score 65
- Program expense ratio: 67.5%; rating input score 68
- Fundraising efficiency: $5.59 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- 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: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 5.8%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.23; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 53.9%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 16.8% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 14% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 25.7% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 64.9% of revenue deployed · 67.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $242K · 14 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 7 filing years from 2018 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 20/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.