Avela - a Vision for Engineering Literacy & Access

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
884125697
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2022
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Phone
3606065238
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Scholarships, Student Financial Aid Services, Awards

Reported finances

Revenue
$826,244
Expenses
$839,514
Assets
$324,049
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Kyle Johnson (Chair and Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Kyle Johnson (Chair and Executive Director): $27,450 total reported compensation
  • Vicente Arroyos (Vice Chair): $19,150 total reported compensation
  • Liban Hussein (Board Member): $11,095 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

AVELA members teach K-12 students about college, computing, and engineering through classes, workshops, and other forms of community outreach by representing the populations we aim to support.

What it reported doing in 2024

The Reboot Representation Grant aimed to support women in AVELA, who constitute 60% - 70% of the organization's STEM instructors. The grant provided $4,000 stipends to 40 different AVELA student instructors. This initiative was designed to encourage more women to participate and excel in STEM fields, directly benefiting the female educators involved in AVELA's programs. Because of this initiative, AVELA helped double the number of BLNA women getting computing degrees from 2022 to 2025. An AVELA staff member helped facilitate the partnerships.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 97% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 100% of its reported program spending out as grants.
  • 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. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 48
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 97.3%; rating input score 97
  • Program expense ratio: 95.7%; rating input score 96
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 50%; rating input score 50; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 44
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -1.6%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.39; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.7%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 100.3% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 67.3% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 35% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 97.3% of revenue deployed · 95.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 6 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 6 filed program accomplishments · $804K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $27K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 15 of 16 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 50/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 31/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 18/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 45/100.