Akashinga Inc

What it reported doing in 2025

Akashinga delivers resilient nature conservation programmes of global significance through community-driven partnerships. Our mission is grounded in a principle as simple as it is consequential: when communities, and specifically women in local communities, are given genuine authority over the ecosystems they depend on, they protect them. Not because they have been told to, but because they have a real stake in the outcome.biodiversity loss, climate change, and the erosion of human wellbeing are not parallel crises; they are the same crisis, compounding each other across generations. Africa's wildlife corridors face converging pressures: poaching driven by crime, poverty, and exclusion; habitat loss from agricultural encroachment; and human-wildlife conflict that pits communities against the ecosystems they depend on. Addressing any one of these in isolation is insufficient. Addressing all three together - through the people most affected and most invested - is the only approach with a realistic chance of lasting.conservation has historically been designed for ecosystems, not with communities. External actors arrive, impose rules, and leave. Conservation gains are often difficult to sustain where local ownership and long-term community partnership are absent. Wildlife recovers temporarily and declines again when the funding ends. Women, who make up the majority of rural african communities closest to protected area, have been largely absent from frontline conservation leadership. In an industry where women are outnumbered by men 100 to 1 at an operational level, that is not a small oversight. It is a fundamental misunderstanding of who conservation is for and who it must be led by.akashinga was established to meet this challenge: placing women and communities not at the margins of conservation leadership, but at its centre, in authentic roles with real authority and long-term stake. Our model combines women-led frontline operations, intelligence-led enforcement, community partnership, access to health and livelihood support, and rigorous ecological science into a single integrated system. Each element reinforces the others. None works without the others. Today, akashinga operates across 13.1 million acres in zimbabwe, mozambique, botswana, and namibia. Our workforce is 98% local and/or indigenous in the countries where we operate, with 63% of our workforce being women.akashinga contributes to the following global conservation strategies at the landscape level: 15 of 17 un sustainable development goals, the global 30x30 challenge, the protecting our planet challenge, and agenda 2063 of the african union.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
• Program expense ratio: 83.2%; rating input score 83
• Fundraising efficiency: $7.29 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 14th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Missing
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
  • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
  • Requires narrative reports: Fail
  • Conducts field audits: Fail
  • May suspend future funding: Fail
  • Requires financial reports: Fail
  • Conducts site visits: Fail
  • Requires grant agreements: Fail
  • May require repayment: Fail
• Grant itemization coverage: 99.4%; rating input score 99; 44th percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 19th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Fail
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Fail
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -131.8%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.44; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 4.8%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 26.5% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 24.1% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 28.2% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings