Education Is Key

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
844234412
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Compton, CA, USA
Rating
92
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution

Reported finances

Revenue
$32,603
Expenses
$59,178
Assets
$48,627

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Nicole Lindsey (President)

People named in this filing

  • Nicole Lindsey (President)
  • Ryan Morris (Treasurer)
  • Melissa Massironi (Secretary)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Education Is Key is a non-profit organization that focuses on providing scholarships wellness and enrichment programs for inner-city students of Los Angeles

What it reported doing in 2025

Education Is Key empowers inner-city and underserved youth through scholarships mentorship education and community engagement. The organization has awarded over 40 scholarships supporting students in universities community colleges trade schools vocational programs and career pathways. Its scholarship model prioritizes effort commitment and potential over strict GPA requirements. Mentorship initiativesincluding World Changers 6 Keys to Success Empower Him Her and Be Your Own CEOfocus on financial literacy entrepreneurship mental health civic engagement and leadership. Annual wellness events like We Outside promote healthy lifestyles family engagement and community connection. In response to the January 2025 Eaton Wildfire Education Is Key partnered with Pasadena African American Parent Council to provided 5 laptops and scholarship to impacted students. Throughout 2025 the organization strengthened educational access self-sufficiency and community empower

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% 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.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 97
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 90.8%; rating input score 91

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -81.5%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.82; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 91.3% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -55.6% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -42.9% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 90.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $54K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 42/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.