Us Digital Response
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 863759883
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2021
- Location
- Oakland, CA, USA
- Phone
- 4156554980
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Management & Technical Assistance
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $7,394,107
- Expenses
- $8,633,893
- Assets
- $5,471,953
- Liabilities
- $51,143
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
16 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- HILLARY HARTLEY (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- TYLER HENDRICKSON (TECHNICAL LEAD): $271,405 total reported compensation
- LINDSEY WILSON (PROGRAM DIRECTOR): $261,306 total reported compensation
- MARCIE CHIN (PRODUCT MANAGER): $258,391 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
U.s. Digital response is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that helps governments, nonprofits, and public entities respond quickly to critical public needs. The organization serves the public by leveraging a network of pro bono technical expertise to address common, systemic challenges facing public servants. The organization's work spans an array of needs from helping americans apply for unemployment insurance benefits and receive them faster, to election management, to broadband & digital equity, and to helping entities find and track federal grants that can help local constituents.
What it reported doing in 2024
Grants: this program aims to lower barriers across the government grants ecosystem and provide rapid response services related to federal grants. Our work improves our partners' capacity for finding and reporting on federal grants with easy-to-use, open source products; builds their capacity by connecting partners with communities of practice; and informs the grants ecosystem through the sharing of our insights. Note this program is sunsetting in 2025.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 90% 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
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 revenue has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 94
- Transparency & Controls: 74
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 22
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 92.7%; rating input score 93
- Fundraising efficiency: $27.45 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
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: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -16.8%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.63; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 25.3%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 33.5% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -13.7% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 1.1% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 92.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $8M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $271K · 16 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $224K reported
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 10 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 8/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.