Bricks to Bread International
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 813143615
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020, Form 990-N 2017
- Location
- Saint Louis Park, MN, USA
- Phone
- 6124195421
- Rating
- 69
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Small Business Development
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $371,402
- Expenses
- $223,560
- Assets
- $489,220
- Liabilities
- $35,410
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Nancy F Alvarado (President of the Board)
People named in this filing
- Nancy F Alvarado (President of the Board)
- Sara Kietzmann (Treasurer of the Board)
- Josephine Kietzmann (Secretary of the Board)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Bricks to Bread International is a 501c(3) nonprofit organization whose primary exempt purpose is to alleviate poverty and build global leaders. We help build brick ovens for Costa Rican families seeking a sustainable source of income. Bricks to Bread assists and mentors families in the construction and maintenance of their own oven and offers training and assistance in developing a solid business plan to sell fresh baked goods to their community. Brick ovens not only help provide a family with a sustainable income, but they also bring communities together. The ovens become a focal point in the community, become a gathering place for community events, and bring people together. Bricks to Bread accomplishes all of this through donations, partnerships, volunteer trip opportunities and baking bread together.
What it reported doing in 2024
Rural Economic Development. 2,500 new lives touched by our programs. 2,672 members of our oven project communities received our ongoing support. Five households broke the poverty cycle barrier, achieving new financial security owning their own business during 2024. Our brick ovens are built for women seeking a sustainable source of income to support their families. They demonstrate an aptitude and desire to manage, maintain, and run a successful business. Furthermore, rural communities in Latin America rarely have access to fresh baked goods, many in food desert areas where the sources are limited. Breads from our ovens offer a sustainable, fresh option for the community. Our oven program provides needed resources for the whole community, giving families the opportunity to live better lives and give back to their communities. Each oven project includes the construction of a new brick oven, a processing and packaging facility and seed funding for training, business development and start-up costs. During 2024, we worked within 93 different communities throughout Costa Rica and Honduras, empowering 97 women to overcome adversity and achieve financial security. During 2024, we added 23 new families to our brick oven community, transforming each family from a life under the national extreme poverty level of $155 a month to earning over $600 a month (the national average income for rural communities). During 2024, we invested an additional $4,600 by hosting our third annual Empowering Women Entrepreneurs conference where 31 women entrepreneurs joined us for a 3-day conference of education, team building and information sharing.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 93% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 86% 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 total spending goes to programs and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 63
- Transparency & Controls: 58
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 71
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 52.9%; rating input score 53
- Program expense ratio: 86.4%; rating input score 86
- Fundraising efficiency: $13.51 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: 32.5%; rating input score 32; 39th 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: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 39.8%; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.19; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 20% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 31.3% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 28.9% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 52.9% of revenue deployed · 86.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $193K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 29 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and grants
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 53/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 32/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 47/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 29/100.