Desta

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN: 364160878
IRS 990 coverage: 2010–2025
Forms available: Form 990 2025
Location: Littleton, CO, USA
Phone: 7202839100
Rating: 74
Verdict: SUPPORTED
Rating confidence: Standard
Sector: Employment Procurement Assistance

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue: $3,417,302
Expenses: $3,252,993
Assets: $1,918,411
Liabilities: $127,451

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

Gabrielle Thompson-Brown (President and Chief Executive Officer)
William Merrifield (Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer)

Highest reported compensation

Kurt Rascher (Global Staff): $128,322 total reported compensation
Jayson Casper (Global Staff): $118,494 total reported compensation
Gabrielle Thompson-Brown (President and Chief Executive Officer): $112,471 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Our mission is to help communities and individuals flourish by removing barriers to dignity.

What it reported doing in 2025

Community Development. 12 employees and 4 volunteers served in 10 community development programs in 10 countries in East Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, North and South America and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Operating model

Revenue model: Donor-supported. 98% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model: Direct operator. The filing allocates 91% 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 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: 75
Transparency & Controls: 75
Accountability: 93
Sustainability: 35
Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

Mission deployment rate: 77.2%; rating input score 77
Program expense ratio: 80.6%; rating input score 81
Fundraising efficiency: $15.49 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

Consistency checks: 86.7%; rating input score 87; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Pay-setting controls: Limited
Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
- Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
- Requires narrative reports: Fail
- Conducts field audits: Fail
- May suspend future funding: Fail
- Requires financial reports: Fail
- Conducts site visits: Fail
- Requires grant agreements: Fail
- May require repayment: Fail
Grant itemization coverage: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

Independent voting board: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 20th 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: 4.8%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.59; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
Officer compensation ratio: 16%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

Program expense growth: -1.2% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
Revenue growth: -0.6% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
Asset growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Details

Where the money goes: 77.2% of revenue deployed · 80.6% of spending went to programs
Governance: 7 of 8 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $2.6M in reported program spending
Leadership: top reported pay $128K · 12 people listed
Consistency: 43 of 45 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and related organizations
Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
Contacts: How to reach this organization
Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
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.

High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 51/100.
High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 42/100.
High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.
Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 55/100.