Common Hope

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
411560297
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Saint Paul, MN, USA
Phone
6519170917
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
International Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,688,707
Expenses
$4,788,982
Assets
$8,170,545
Liabilities
$1,391,437

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

Leadership & pay

22 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JOCELYN SKOLNIK (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • JOCELYN SKOLNIK (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $174,383 total reported compensation
  • DOUG ROSENBERG (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $142,158 total reported compensation
  • ADAM MEYER (DIR OF DEVELOPMENT & COMMUNICATIONS): $113,803 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Common hope and its affiliate, fundacion familias de esperanza, promote hope and opportunity in guatemala, partnering with children and families who want to participate in a process of development to improve their lives through education, health care and housing.

What it reported doing in 2025

Education: common hope helped provide pre-primary, primary, secondary, and university education for 3,192 students in 2025, supporting tuition and fees, books and supplies, shoes, and uniforms. We celebrated 194 young men and women who earned their high school diploma, most of them first generation graduates. Over 3,000 guatemalans have now graduated from high school through common hope! In alignment with our strategic plan, we implemented vocational training and career readiness programs for students affiliated with common hope. Other support included connectivity or access to computer labs and library resources for all students, individual and group homework/tutoring support for over 4,800 students, and diagnostic assessments for all 6-, 9-, 12, and 15-year-old students.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 92% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 70% for direct work, and 30% for 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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 62
  • Transparency & Controls: 76
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 56
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 60.3%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 70.1%; rating input score 70
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.72 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Pass
    • Conducts site visits: Pass
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • 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: 15.8%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.71; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.17; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.9% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 60.3% of revenue deployed · 70.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $3.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $174K · 22 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 39 of 39 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 5 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 44/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 52/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 36/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 38/100.