Visual Compassion Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
262174933
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2009
Location
Houston, TX, USA
Phone
2814577477
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Eye Diseases, Blindness and Vision Impairments

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$283,424
Expenses
$326,933
Assets
$241,468
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Joseph Dollak OD (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Joseph Dollak OD (CEO): $135,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Visual Compassion provides free and/or low cost vision care services and products to underserved communities. As part of community vision care services and products, we provide job training and work therapy for individuals completing rehabilitation in addiction and substance abuse. Operational costs are achievable by supplying international ministries with vision products and program services, which multiplies volume of material goods and thus greatly lowering cogs.

What it reported doing in 2024

Visual Compassion provides free and low cost vision care services and products to underserved communities through 2 optometric clinics. (Yale clinic closed 10/31/24) The services include vision screenings, diabetic health screenings, glaucoma screenings, eye exams, visual perception evaluations to offer 50% + of our selection for free. The remaining frames start at $10 - $35. Lenses start at $10. These services are available due to our donations and the job training component of our programs listed in 4b. In 2015, we replicated our program in Fond-des-Negres, Haiti and we are please to say that it is going well. We have stopped our screenings and increased our clinic exams during the COVID-19 period. We continue to support referral vouchers from community organizations for free and/or low cost vision exams. 2017 eye exams for $20 were performed helping families across Houston. We often have people drive 1-2.5 hours to take advantage of the services we offer. 38 Free exams were given to the recovery community of Houston.

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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 63
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 81.7%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • 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: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -15.4%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.74; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 41.3%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -2% per year; rating input score 0; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -7.3% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -5.1% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 81.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $267K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $135K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 39 of 40 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • 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.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 17/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 33/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.