Brooke Owens Fellowship

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
822845150
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2020
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
7203315385
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$339,531
Expenses
$674,729
Assets
$661,319
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Carolyn Broady (Administrator): $74,687 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Created to honor the legacy of a beloved space industry pioneer and accomplishedpilot, Dawn Brooke Owens (1980 2016), the Brooke Owens Fellowship is designed toserve both as an inspiration and as a career boost to capable young women and othergender minorities who, like Brooke, aspire to explore our sky and stars, to shake upthe aerospace industry, and to help their fellow people here on planet Earth. We dothis by matching up to forty students per year with purpose-driven, paid internshipsat leading aerospace companies and organizations and with senior and executive levelmentors.

What it reported doing in 2025

Our organizations accomplishments for 2025 include: a.The Brooke Owens Fellowship provides around 45 women and gender minority undergraduate students with summer internships at leading aerospace organizations along with Executive Mentorship from leaders in the aerospace industry.b.In 2025, the Brooke Owens Fellowship welcomed its ninth class of Fellows, matching 44 students to internships at SpaceX, Blue Origin, NASA, and others.c.The Brooke Owens Fellowship founded a spinoff program, the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship in 2020, which provides around 40 African-American and Black American undergraduate students with their first aerospace industry experience and matches them with Executive Mentors in the Aerospace industry.d.In 2024, the spinoff program Patti Grace Smith Fellowship became incorporated under its own 501(c)(3) and no longer operates under the Brooke Owens Fellowship.e.Over 100 students from the Brooke Owens Fellowship participated in a 5-day Summit, where they participated in leadership-building activities like delivering a team Challenge project, received Executive mentoring, and heard from aerospace panels of experts.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 97% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 40% for direct work, and 60% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 25
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: -98.7%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.98; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.1%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 23.3% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -30% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -11.5% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $675K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $75K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 18 of 18 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.