Mdrc

“990 review process the form 990 review process at mdrc includes an internal review by mdrc's senior vice president/chief financial officer and president as well as external review by grant thornton. The form 990 is then reviewed by the audit committee of the board of directors. The full board is provided with a copy of the form 990 prior to its being filed with the irs. The full board discusses the form 990 post-filing at its scheduled annual meeting in december.”

“Conflict of interest policy enforcement & monitoring directors and officers are required to complete and sign an annual conflict of interest disclosure statement. The statements are reviewed by the corporate secretary and the president for actual or possible conflicts of interest. If any is disclosed, or inferred, these actual or possible conflicts of interest are brought to the attention of the chairman of the board. In response, the chairman might convene a group of disinterested directors to discuss and address the conflict. All employees, including officers who are also staff members and key employees, are required to read and sign a code of ethics, which includes information about conflicts of interest. Annually, each employee must sign a statement disclosing the presence or absence of conflicts of interest on behalf of the employee and family members. Failure to do so can result in disciplinary action up to and including termination. These statements are reviewed by the human resources department and, as appropriate, by counsel for determination regarding action that should follow the reporting of an actual or potential conflict of interest. In addition to the required annual report, all employees are instructed by the code of ethics that they have a responsibility to report a violation of the code. Employees can report any such violation to mdrc supervisory personnel, the human resources department, or to an independent organization, lighthouse services, which hosts an online site and toll-free number which employees can use to make complaints anonymously or in identifiable form.”

“Process for determining compensation the finance and compensation committee ("the committee") of mdrc's board of directors establishes each year the compensation and bonus payments, if any, for the top paid and next top paid officer of the organization based on survey information provided to them from both internal and external sources. The individuals at the end of 2020 are dr. Knox and mr. Amadeo. Each year mdrc's human resources function conducts a review of the form 990 and other documents of research organizations that perform similar research as mdrc, to ascertain their pay structures for the top and second top paid officers, which is typically the ceo or president and the coo/cfo. Included in this survey is the base salary and bonus payments made to the top and second top paid executives of these other policy research firms, along with such comparable factors as size of the organization as measured by headcount and operating budgets. This survey information is supplemented by comparable information provided from an external, third party consulting firm called the national think tank compensation survey (nttc) conducted by akron incorporated, a washington dc based compensation consulting firm. The nttc compiles the base salary and bonus payment information provided by survey participants and displays the information anonymously by quartile, location, and firm size (stated in terms of employees and budget). Survey participant include competing policy research organizations, as well as foundations, endowments, and universities. The results of both the in-house and external surveys and comparison of form 990s for those comparable not-for-profit organizations are presented to the committee, which then deliberates, and based on the information provided, establishes the pay level for mdrc's president and chief financial officer. The compensation of the president and chief financial officer is approved by the board. Part vi, section b line 15b process for determining compensation the committee establishes compensation levels for the chief financial officer, as required by the california nonprofit integrity act of 2004. Compensation for the rest of the officers and employees is based on a recommendation by the president to the committee. The recommendation from the president establishes a merit and bonus pool for the coming year, based on the organization's standard pay practice as described below. The president sets and approves the salary level and bonus payments for officers other than the chief financial officer, and for other key employees. Each year, mdrc's president recommends to the board a salary pool for merit increases and discretionary bonuses to be paid to other officers and key employees in the organization. The merit increase and bonus pools are generally competitive within the two marketplaces in which the organization competes for human talent (new york and california). The president bases the recommendation on survey information provided by the organization's human resources department, which in turn, obtains local labor market pay practices from external third party consulting firms such as mercer human resources consulting and towers perrin compensation consulting, as well as conducting a survey of pay practices from other policy research organizations. Typical merit increase pools in recent years have been in the four percent (4%) to five percent (5%) range. Once the merit increase pool has been established and approved by the board, mdrc establishes each employee's salary based on two factors: performance on the job during the most recent calendar year (mdrc uses a four tier performance rating system), and where an employee's salary falls within the salary range established for their position (called a compa-ratio). Holding performance constant, mdrc's compensation system provides a greater increase in salary to those employees who are low in their salary ranges and provides smaller increases in salary to t”

“Availability of documents mdrc's financial statements are made available to the public through the mdrc website and a hard copy is provided upon request. Mdrc's governing documents and conflict of interest policy are generally available to the public upon request.”

“Senior fellow, frederick doolittle, is reported as a former officer on the form 990 as he is still currently employed by mdrc, but in a non-officer capacity. Vice president, director of deployment and accountability, barbara goldman, is reported as a former officer on the form 990 as she is still currently employed by mdrc, but in a non-officer capacity.”

“Founded in 1974, mdrc is a nonprofit, nonpartisan social policy and education research organization that is driven by its mission: mdrc is dedicated to learning what works to improve the well-being of low-income people. Through our research and the active communication of our findings, we seek to enhance the effectiveness of social policies and programs that affect the poor. With a diverse staff of close to 300 and offices in new york city, san francisco the bay area, los angeles, and washington, dc, mdrc carries out its mission by mounting large-scale evaluations of government and community programs targeted to people with low incomes, developing and field-testing promising new approaches, providing design and implementation assistance to build better programs that can be replicated and expanded, and working to ensure that our evidence informs policy and practice. We helped pioneer the use of random assignment - the same methodology used to test new medicines - in social policy research. Working with others, mdrc is building an important body of evidence about what works - and doesn't work - to address some of society's toughest problems, including those that reflect the continuing racial and economic inequities in our nation. Over the years, mdrc has brought its commitment to building strong evidence to an ever-growing range of policy areas and target populations. We have worked in nearly every state and most of the nation's major cities. Mdrc's projects are organized into eight research areas: - economic mobility, housing, and communities - k-12 education - youth criminal justice and employment - family well-being and child development - post secondary education - center for applied behavioral science - center for data insights - information dissemination program development methodology and strategic initiatives mdrc has worked diligently over the last several years to strengthen our existing programmatic technical assistance, implementation research, and communications functions, while building new capabilities in behavioral science and data analytics - all in the service of improving education and social programs. Every program - whether administered by a nonprofit or a government agency - struggles with targeting, recruiting, and engaging its intended participants, and we endeavor to have the tools that can help them. Many of the entities with which we work - whether nonprofits or government agencies - are eager to engage our two technical assistance centers, the center for applied behavioral science and the center for data insights, in order to improve their systems and programs. Combined with our decades of evidence-building research and operational expertise from conducting and evaluating demonstration projects, mdrc now offers "end-to-end" relationships and services that incorporate close attention to the links among an intervention's implementation system, its core activities, and its highest priority outcomes; strong data analysis; predictive analytics; behavioral diagnosis and design; and other technical assistance services to help programs target their services effectively, improve their recruitment and engagement, and design their service approaches to change the trajectories of their participants. What distinguishes mdrc? Dedication to learning what works to improve the well-being of families with low incomes. When selecting new projects, mdrc takes a proactive, strategic approach that is based on an analysis of the key issues and trends in social policy and an assessment of opportunities to learn. We try to answer important policy questions by conducting multiple studies over time, each building on the last, confirming what has come before and adding new knowledge. Devotion to rigor, accuracy, and innovation. To shape policy and practice in the field, it is not enough to learn what works; research must learn how programs work and why some don't. Each mdrc study uses rigorous appropriate research design to asse”

“Achievements in 2020 like everyone, mdrc's work and its staff were affected by 2020's unprecedented covid-19 pandemic. In march, our staff quickly transitioned to a virtual work environment and collaborated with our funders and research associates to reassess and modify our research and technical assistance projects to respond to the needs of the moment. Beginning in spring of 2020, we listened carefully to the many organizations and entities that we collaborate with on the ground - from local school districts and nonprofit providers to large government agencies - to learn how we could be helpful to them as the pandemic unfolded. We quickly distilled relevant knowledge and evidence into short actionable briefs that provide profiles of program innovations during the pandemic, tips and strategies for delivering services remotely, and policy options for recovery. In the fall, we developed a series of "ideas and evidence 2021" policy memos with ideas for the new administration and congress in early care and education, the child tax credit, housing, community college, and more. Throughout the year, we published commentaries about using evidence and data to address the challenges brought by the pandemic, recession, and continuing inequities in society. They appeared in such publications as governing, government executive, the hill, community college daily, and spotlight on poverty and opportunity. In the end, 2020 was a year of contradictions. Like others, we have observed that even as nonprofits, philanthropy, and public systems struggled to respond to the crisis, they also produced promising innovations. Benefit systems eased eligibility and enrollment requirements; service providers pivoted rapidly to virtual program delivery that may prove useful in the future; and criminal justice systems reduced their use of bail and incarceration. Many of these emergency reforms have found ways to reduce inequity in ways that could have staying power. Going forward, we hope to continue to provide policymakers and practitioners with practical evidence of what works to improve the lives of individuals and families living with low incomes through mdrc's two technical assistance centers and seven departments focused on policy domains.”

“The pandemic caused by the sars cov-2 virus and its associated disease covid-19 led to a change in work practices since march 2020; namely all the work being done remotely, with consequent adjustments to research work related to institutions that needed to be open for in-person activities for the work to be conducted. During the first quarter of 2021, mdrc's offices were made available to employees. Mdrc continues to monitor its investment portfolio and its liquidity and is actively working to minimize any potential long-term impacts. Mdrc is actively working with its research collaborators and funders and does not expect an adverse effect from the pandemic in its future work. To help sustain itself during the economic disruption wrought by the pandemic, mdrc sought economic assistance from the government. The paycheck protection program established by the cares act provides small businesses with funds to pay up to 24 weeks of certain necessary expenditures, including payroll costs, rent, and utilities. Mdrc received a paycheck protection program forgivable loan of $4,648,200 and reported this loan on its balance sheet. The organization applied for full forgiveness of the loan in may of 2021 as it met all of the criteria required by the small business administration to obtain forgiveness. The loan will be recorded as governmental grant revenue on the succeeding year form 990.”