EPIC-Africa Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
320533781
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020
Location
Wilmington, DE, USA
Phone
3026365400
Rating
58
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Single Organization Support

Reported finances

Revenue
$538,645
Expenses
$662,648
Assets
$496,287
Liabilities
$23,897

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Rose Maruru (Co-Founder/CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Rose Maruru (Co-Founder/CEO): $93,276 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

EPIC-Africa seeks to enhance philanthropic impact by filling critical data and capacity gaps in the philanthropic market infrastructure in Africa to help increase the visibility and credibility of African civil society organizations.

What it reported doing in 2024

Program service accomplishments epic-africa made significant advances in its mission to fill critical data and capacity gaps in the africa civil society and philanthropy sectors, further entrenching its track record as a unique and credible source of data and actionable insights. Epic-africas cso platform, launched in 2023 the platfor grew to 2000+ organizations from 47 african countries, and 7,000+ users including csos, funders, individuals and other entities. The platform is offering greater visibility to african civil society organizations while enabling funders to more easily connect to and learn about african csos . The platform also offers csos a range of resources and opportunities to amplify their impact. Continent-wide mapping of women-led/focused csos to understadn the unique challenges they face and identify opportunites for strengthening the sub-sector. Research on individual giving to african csos- this ground breaking study revealed widespread local giving challneging the myths about african giving and opening up a new research agenda. Capacity strengtheng activities included launching the ama webinar series, which curates conversations among funders and csos to learn together and to share tools. Contributed to salient discourses on african civil society and philanthropy through publishing articles, reports, and speaking at global and regional platforms and convenings.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 72% 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

MIXED - Most voting board members are independent and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 44
  • Transparency & Controls: 55
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 53%; rating input score 53
  • Program expense ratio: 43.1%; rating input score 43
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -23%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.75; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.1%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 27.8% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 29.7% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 32.1% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 53% of revenue deployed · 43.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $285K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $93K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 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 53/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 43/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 8/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 52/100.