Year Up United
Overview
Mission
We believe talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not. We're on a mission to change that.
What it reported doing in 2025
See schedule o
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The nonprofit carried out 80% of its reported program work directly.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 043534407
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Website reviewed
- Jul 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2021
- Headquarters
- Boston, MA, USA
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Universities
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 84
- Transparency & Controls: 77
- Accountability: 94
- Sustainability: 19
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 79.7%; rating input score 80
- Fundraising efficiency: $6 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
- Public monitoring controls: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Public policy transparency: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Public financial transparency: 3 of 5 controls in place; rating input score 60
- Impact reporting controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
- Public relationship transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Public governance controls: 4 of 4 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Zakat policy transparency: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -25.2%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Operating reserve ratio: 0.83; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.19; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.3%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 6 programs and campaigns described on the official site
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 79.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 16 of 18 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $135.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $739K · 33 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 34 of 35 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 16 annual filings from 2010 to 2025
- Money network: 16 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link