2020-09-30T13:02:10-07:00 2019-06-30 010672939 Paul J Smit & Associates 3330 181st Place Suite 204 Lansing IL 60438 990 2018-07-01 473703555 Coalition Application Inc COAL 2177142224 PO Box 850 Colchester VT 05446 Jeremiah Quinlan Board Chair 2020-09-30 true Paul J Smit P00669815 7088891099 2018 2021-01-29 14:40:06Z Jeremiah Quinlan PO Box 850 Colchester VT 05446 1293254 false false X coalitionforcollegeaccess.org X 2015 IL The Coalition for College is a group of more than 150 distinguished colleges and universities across the U.S. that joined together to increase students access to higher education. Our diverse member schools are united in their mission to support lower-income, under-resourced, and/or first-generation students; to provide responsible financial aid; and to bolster students success in collegeand beyond. 15 15 0 15 0 473100 689486 528246 598374 308 5394 0 1001654 1293254 66000 0 0 0 75738 885190 965498 885190 1031498 116464 261756 526873 854456 93717 106535 433156 747921 The Coalition for College is a group of more than 150 distinguished colleges and universities across the U.S. that joined together to increase students access to higher education. Our diverse member schools are united in their mission to support lower-income, under-resourced, and/or first-generation students; to provide responsible financial aid; and to bolster students success in collegeand beyond. false false 723893 The Coalition Application, Inc.'s mission is to improve the process of preparing for and applying to college for students from diverse backgrounds, and enhance overall access to affordable, successful college education. The Coalition Application, Inc. was incorporated in April 2015 and completed its first partial tax year on June 30, 2015. During that period of time, the organization was primarily devoted to initial organization and governance matters and did not conduct any revenue-generating activities, receive any contributions or grants or incur any expenses. During the year ended June 30, 2016, the organization began to develop a base of member organizations and initiated various programs designed to improve the college application process and enhance student access to an affordable college education, including its development of an online college application platform and various outreach initiatives to educate students, high schools and community-based organizations regarding the same. During the years ended June 30, 2017 and 2018, the organization grew its base of member organizations to over 140 colleges and universities and continued to develop various programs designed to improve the college application proces and enhance student access to an affordable college education, including its development of an online college application platform and various outreach initiatives to educate students, high schools and community-based organizations regarding the same. During the year ended June 30, 2019, the organization grew its membership to over 150 colleges and universities, expanded tools for younger students preparing for college, and strengthened its relationship to counselors and community-based organizations through new roles on the Board of Directors. During this time, the organization also grew its national outreach efforts through virtual events designed to educate students about college and how best to prepare. 723893 true true false false false false false false false false false false false false false false true false false false false false false false false false false true false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false true 0 0 false 0 false false false false false false false false false 0 false false false false false false false false false false false false X 15 15 false false false false false false false true false false false true true true true false false false false false CA FL IL MA NJ NY PA RI X Stephanie Stelter 8323814870 5802 Cartage Street Houston TX 77035 X Seth Allen Director 2.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Kristine Dillon Treasurer 5.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 Kedra Ishop Director 2.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Juan Espinoza Director 2.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Courtney McAnuff Vice Chair 5.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 John Latting Director 2.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Lee Melvin Director 2.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Jessica Marinaccio Director 2.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Jeremiah Quinlan Board Chair 5.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 Audrey Smith Director 2.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 John Gaines Director 2.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 David Wermuth Director 2.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Chris Gruber Director 2.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Whitney Soule Director 2.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Stacey Kostell Secretary 5.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 0 false false false 0 689486 689486 Conference 55874 55874 Membership Dues & Assessments 542500 542500 598374 5394 5394 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1293254 598374 5394 X 66000 66000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 27115 27115 0 0 0 0 612061 502009 53957 56095 124355 124355 13120 10627 1181 1312 0 0 0 59445 47556 8917 2972 0 0 0 0 0 7199 7199 Meeting expenses 73827 60051 3715 10061 Printing and Publications 46065 35931 5067 5067 Other 1240 884 243 113 Postage and Shipping 1071 835 118 118 0 1031498 723893 231867 75738 382357 101538 144516 699909 0 53009 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 526873 854456 44617 69960 49100 36575 93717 106535 X 433156 713921 34000 433156 747921 526873 854456 261756 53009 X false true X false false X 71250 300000 980600 1231986 2583836 0 0 71250 300000 980600 1231986 2583836 0 2583836 5394 5394 0 20746 55874 76620 2665850 X 0.00000 RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED 1293254 1293254 1293254 1031498 1031498 1031498 false University of Vermont 184 S Prospect St Burlington VT 05401 33000 0 FMV Admissions Innovation Grant Virginia Tech 925 Prices Fork Rd Blacksburg VA 24061 33000 0 FMV Admissions Innovation Grant 2 0 Form 990, Part VI, Line 11b: Form 990 Review Process IT IS THE POLICY OF THE ORGANIZATION TO MAKE COPIES OF THE IRS 990 AVAILABLE TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRIOR TO ITS SUBMISSION TO THE IRS. THE IRS 990 IS DISTRIBUTED ELECTRONICALLY OR IN HARDCOPY TO ALL BOARD MEMBERS FOR REVIEW AND COMMENT PRIOR TO FILING IT WITH THE IRS. Form 990, Part VI, Line 12c: Explanation of Monitoring and Enforcement of Conflicts Each director and officer shall annually sign a statement which affirms such person: a) has received a copy of the conflicts of interest policy, b) has read and understands the policy, c) has agreed to comply with the policy, and d) understands the Organization is charitable and in order to maintain its federal tax exemption it must engage primarily in activities which accomplish one or more of its tax-exempt purposes. Directors and officers are required to disclose any actual or possible conflicts of interests. After disclosure of any conflict of interest, the individual is required to leave the meeting while the determination of a conflict of interest is discussed and voted on by the remaining board members. Specific written policies and procedures exist for addressing possible or actual conflicts of interests. Form 990, Part VI, Line 19: Other Organization Documents Publicly Available Coalition Applicaton complies with Federal and Illinois public disclosure requirements with respect to IRS Form 990 aand its governing documents. Coalition Application's policy is to fulfill all requests for the forms made in writing or in person by providing a copy of the requested document. September 29, 2020Dear Internal Revenue Service:We are including information regarding reasonable cause for not assessing late penalties with the electronically filed Form 990 for Coalition Application, Inc. (Employer Identification Number 47-3703555). The Form 990 was filed late; however, we believe there is reasonable cause for the late filing, as described below. No penalties have been assessed; however, we are including this information with the filed form for the consideration of the IRS in its review of the e-file submission. The Coalition Application, Inc.s (the Coalition) Form 990 for its year ended June 30, 2019 was originally due on November 15, 2019. Form 8868 was e-filed and accepted by the IRS for an extension of time to file through May 15, 2020. The IRS then effectively extended the due dates of tax returns due on May 15, 2020 to July 15, 2020 due in large part to the COVID-19 crisis. After encountering a number of difficulties and challenges, as more fully described below, the Coalition was able to electronically file Form 990 with the IRS in late September 2020.The Coalition was incorporated in April 2015 and completed its first partial tax year on June 30, 2015. During that period of time, the Coalition was primarily devoted to initial organization and governance matters and did not conduct any revenue generating activities, receive any contribution or grants or incur any expenses. During the years ended June 30, 2016 through 2019, the Coalition grew rapidly to a membership of over 150 colleges and universities, and grew rapidly also in its development of programs to enhance student access to an affordable college education. During this time, the Coalitions staff were employees of the University of Chicago and the majority of the costs of the organization were managed by and paid by the University of Chicago and then reimbursed by the Coalition. During the year ended June 30, 2019, the Coalition began to take on more administrative responsibilities for its receipts and disbursements functions, and accounting and administration functions in order to prepare for it to be fully independent from University of Chicago oversight. The Coalition staff was comprised of five to six program staff and did not have any administrative or accounting staff, therefore, recordkeeping and bookkeeping was performed by its Executive Director. Due to the transition from University of Chicago oversight and the fact that the Coalition had three different Executive Directors within a period of 12 months, all documentation was not maintained and retained, and accounting records kept up to date, in order to allow for a timely filing of the organizations IRS Form 990. In addition to these issues, the staff of the Coalition work in remote locations at several home offices across the country, and this remote working environment, coupled with the conditions caused by COVID-19, made the process of obtaining, organizing, compiling and reconciling University records, Coalition records, banking records, and customer and vendor records even more difficult. Eventually the Coalition was able to bring in a bookkeeper and after much time and effort was spent creating check registers and accounting records, and obtaining supporting documentation for transactions with customers, members and vendors, the Coalition was able to accurately compile and summarize its financial position and results of operations for financial reporting and tax reporting purposes. After this significant progress was made and these financial statements and the IRS Form 990 were prepared and reviewed by the Coalitions board of directors, the IRS Form 990 was e-filed with the IRS in late September 2020.Our purpose in including these statements with the e-filed return is to demonstrate that the late filed return was not a result of intentional neglect by the organization, Coalition Application, Inc. The combination of events described above, many of which were beyond the direct control of the Coalition, including the process of transitioning from the University of Chicago and the challenges caused by this transition, to the challenges caused by having to reconstruct customer, vendor, banking and accounting data that had not been retained in an orderly fashion by its staff who had left the organization, and the administrative and programmatic challenges caused by the departures of two Executive Directors within a short period of time, resulted in the Coalition being unable to prepare and file its IRS Form 990 with the IRS in a timely manner. The process of filing a timely and accurate return with the IRS turned out to take much longer than anticipated due to the difficulties, challenges and reasons outlined above. We think that you should also consider the fact that since its inception in 2015, the Coalition has filed all of its annual IRS Forms 990 with the IRS on a timely basis (Tax Years 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017). And after solving these issues and by retaining competent staff, the Coalition looks forward to resuming this track record of timely filing immediately. Based on the above information, we believe that there is reasonable cause for late submission of the Form 990, and we request that the IRS waive any penalties that would ordinarily be assessed related to this late filed Form 990.Thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 708-889-1099Paul J. Smit, CPA, Paul J. Smit & Associates