Winning Ways

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
814056668
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Branford, CT, USA
Phone
2036084231
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$215,480
Expenses
$186,077
Assets
$102,985
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Kevin Paulin (Executive Director)
  • Benjamin Backes (President of the Board)
  • Andrew Redenti (Vice President of the Board)

Highest reported compensation

  • Kevin Paulin (Executive Director): $33,650 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Educational & public service organization

What it reported doing in 2024

Additional financial & career-centered program services. Financial literacy: 62 clients served: Provide financial confidence, knowledge, arithmetic, budgeting, account and card acquisition, credit score improvement planning, and additional services through a class-based structure. Elevate Your Employment: 79 clients served. Job acquisition and security and position improvement, relevant career-centered skills, mid- and long-term career planning and actionable guidance. Basic needs program: 31 clients served: In 2024, we were awarded the Basic Needs Fund. With it, we have been able to support individuals' food security, shelter and housing stability, and clothing and hygiene needs through. Money Talk: 298 clients served. Provides separate lectures on financial empowerment. These conversations provide individuals with tools to make smarter financial decisions that promote long-term stability. Money Talks sessions also increase community members' access to local banks, inviting bank representatives in to share their expertise.

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 98% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 58
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 51
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 61.1%; rating input score 61
  • Program expense ratio: 70.8%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 13th 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: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: 13.6%; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.55; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.1%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 57.1% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 49% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 61.1% of revenue deployed · 70.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $132K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $34K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 40 of 41 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 26/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.