Dzi Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 841595852
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2015–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Ridgway, CO, USA
- Phone
- 9706269765
- Rating
- 71
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Human Service Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,110,558
- Expenses
- $1,881,783
- Assets
- $1,139,562
- Liabilities
- $56,477
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
15 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JAMES DUCKWORTH (PRESIDENT)
- WENDE VALENTINE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- WENDE VALENTINE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $129,953 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Dzi partners with local communities in nepal to achieve shared prosperity by ensuring access to basic needs, catalyzing inclusive economic growth, and creating an environment for lasting change.
What it reported doing in 2024
Dzi partners with communities for three multi-year stages to support complementary health, education, and livelihood programs that unlock local opportunity, build more unified communities, and create lasting solutions to complex local challenges. Dzi begins by creating a shared, inclusive vision with the entire community and forming critical partnerships with local ngos and community development groups. The first several years, communities focus on improving food security and building essential infrastructure, such as drinking water and irrigation systems, bridges, and earthquake-safe schools, which remove the barriers to progress and help meet basic needs. Three years into the partnership, quality of life improves through increased access to cash and consumption of healthier food, and the economic condition of the community changes as 50% of residents are earning and spending more. Infrastructure improvements and the increase in educational opportunities encourage youth to stay in the village. In the final years of the partnership, dzi communities are more unified, earning more income, and leading safer, more productive, and more connected lives. Communities have the skills and systems in place to lead and maintain these gains for a lasting impact. Over the past 25 years, dzi has grown to serve more than 44,000 people in an expanding network of rural villages in the solukhumbu, khotang, and bhojpur districts of eastern nepal.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% 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.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 69
- Transparency & Controls: 55
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 50
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 69.9%; rating input score 70
- Program expense ratio: 77.9%; rating input score 78
- Fundraising efficiency: $9.3 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
- 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: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 10.8%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.61; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.9%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -8.3% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 69.9% of revenue deployed · 77.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $130K · 15 people listed
- Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 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.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 35/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 22/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 42/100.