Veterans Education Success Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 462070196
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2016–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2028385050
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Research Institutes and Public Policy Analysis
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,255,007
- Expenses
- $1,349,112
- Assets
- $3,423,779
- Liabilities
- $9,032
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CARRIE WOFFORD (PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR)
- DANIEL SMITH (VICE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- CARRIE WOFFORD (PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR): $197,940 total reported compensation
- BARMAK NASSIRIAN (VP FOR HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY): $184,865 total reported compensation
- WILLIAM HUBBARD (VP FOR VETERANS & MILITARY POLICY): $175,323 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To advance higher education success for veterans, service members, and military families, and to protect the integrity and promise of the gi bill and other federal education programs.
What it reported doing in 2025
Free help for veterans/civic engagement: provide free assistance and college and career counseling to approximately 5,000 veterans, service members and their familiies and survivors (with approximately 15 new incoming veterans each week) who need help with their gi bill or problems with their postsecondary institution or who were victims of predatory college recruiting and fraud; help them connect to federal and state government resources. Also assist whistleblowers in connecting with federal and state law enforcement.bringing veterans, service members and military families to share their stories with government officials and get help from their government.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 95% 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 90
- Transparency & Controls: 79
- Accountability: 84
- Sustainability: 37
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 94.9%; rating input score 95
- Program expense ratio: 88%; rating input score 88
- Fundraising efficiency: $33.88 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 68; 68th 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: 80%; rating input score 80; 21st 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: -7.5%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.54; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 57.6%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2.1% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 13.4% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 94.9% of revenue deployed · 88% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $198K · 9 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2016 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
- 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 16/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.