Climbhi

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
271865289
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2018, Form 990-N 2014
Location
Honolulu, HI, USA
Phone
8082062853
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,425,479
Expenses
$857,093
Assets
$587,149
Liabilities
$13,699

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Julie Morikawa (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Julie Morikawa (President): $149,375 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

ClimbHI seeks to inspire students to finish high school and proceed to post-secondary education or employment by educating them about future career paths and the process necessary to achieve those goals. Established in 2008, ClimbHI, provides people education through the exploration of life's opportunities. We foster learning by partnering and working with businesses, educational institutions, and other governmental, private, profit, and non-profit organizations, entities and individuals that promote and further the purposes of the corporation. The goal is to take ClimbHI's sustainable model nationwide, but the initial focus is on Hawaii with programs including participants from all islands, including Ni'ihau. The programs are conducted by volunteers from the industry, local college/university students, and ClimbHI. Also, leadership for the program comes from the speakers, industry participants, other businesses, volunteers, and the returning high school and college students.

What it reported doing in 2024

The organization started the development of an online platform in 2019 called the ClimbHI Bridge. It connects educators and businesses through streamlined communication that leads to successful outcomes. Once in the portal, there are multiple opportunity types for educators to explore and then send requests to businesses that are available in each category, including: (1) guest speaking /guest teaching, (2) hiring blitz and exposure fair participation, (3) job readiness activities, (4)exposureships - where students learn firsthand about businesses and careers, (5)job shadowing, (6)site visits and other events, (7)internships, (8) credentials, and (9) judging and coaching.ClimbHI Bridge is the largest public-private partnership of its kind in the state, linking educators, students, businesses and organizations to provide workforce development opportunities. There are 240 schools and 440 businesses participating on ClimbHI Bridge. These awardees and hundreds of opportunities providers have helped reach nearly 170,000 students and 5,300 educators statewide.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 75% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 62
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 60
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 56%; rating input score 56
  • Program expense ratio: 92.8%; rating input score 93
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 16th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 39.9%; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.69; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 17.4%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 23.5% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 29.6% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 39.3% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 56% of revenue deployed · 92.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $795K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $149K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 28 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2019 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 56/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.