Amigos De Las Americas

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN: 741547146
IRS 990 coverage: 2012–2025
Forms available: Form 990 2025
Location: Houston, TX, USA
Phone: 7137825290
Rating: 75
Verdict: SUPPORTED
Rating confidence: Moderate
Sector: International Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue: $4,258,823
Expenses: $4,616,838
Assets: $1,520,758
Liabilities: $421,260

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

Sara Nathan (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

Sara Nathan (CEO): $196,763 total reported compensation
Faraz Paliwala (CFO): $185,788 total reported compensation
Viviana Denechaud (Managing Director of Programs): $126,159 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

AMIGOS inspires leaders through authentic service and immersion experiences. Our vision is a world where all people are lifelong leaders sharing responsibility for our global community.

What it reported doing in 2025

The Youth Ambassadors Program is one of the many programs sponsored by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). The Youth Ambassadors Program brings together high school students and adult mentors from 26 countries across the Americas to promote mutual understanding, increase leadership skills, and prepare youth to make a difference in their communities. The program is focused on civic education, community service, and youth leadership development. In 2025, 88 students participated in this program with AMIGOS.

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 95% 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.

Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

Financial Efficiency: 76
Transparency & Controls: 67
Accountability: 100
Sustainability: 13
Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

Mission deployment rate: 86.4%; rating input score 86
Program expense ratio: 79.7%; rating input score 80
Fundraising efficiency: $5.75 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Pass
- 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: Scored; rating input score 0
Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
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: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

Operating margin: -8.4%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.33; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.28; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
Officer compensation ratio: 18.8%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

Program expense growth: 0.1% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings
Revenue growth: 0.5% per year; rating input score 100; 10th percentile among comparable filings
Asset growth: -4.7% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

Where the money goes: 86.4% of revenue deployed · 79.7% of spending went to programs
Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $3.7M in reported program spending
Leadership: top reported pay $197K · 15 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
Filing history: 14 filing years from 2012 to 2025
Contacts: How to reach this organization
Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
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.

High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 18/100.
High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 11/100.
High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 10/100.
High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.
High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 28/100.