Evidence Action

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
900874591
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2028889886
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
International Relief

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$36,213,681
Expenses
$45,139,532
Assets
$201,038,038
Liabilities
$11,740,094

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

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KANIKA BAHL (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • KANIKA BAHL (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $431,665 total reported compensation
  • JOHN DE WET (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $275,481 total reported compensation
  • JEFFREY GROSZ (EXEC. VP, ACCELERATOR & PROGRAMS): $255,540 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Evidence action aims to be a world leader in scaling evidence-based and cost-effective programs to reduce the burden of poverty by building a world where hundreds of millions of poor people have better opportunities and their lives are measurably improved. (see sch. O)

What it reported doing in 2024

Nutrition: the nutrition program leads the work for evidence action's deworm the world and equal vitamin access programs.deworm the world initiative is an incredibly high impact program, helping to deliver over 2 billion treatments to children for intestinal worms since 2014. Deworm the world initiative provides technical assistance to governments to implement high quality, cost effective, and sustainable programming. Regular deworming results in improved education, health, and long-term well-being for treated children.in 2019 evidence action launched a technical assistance program to support the delivery of iron and folic acid (ifa) supplementation for children and adolescents 6 months - 19 years of age in india. Tthe program is being implemented in india and malawi with a robust external evaluation design to measure changes in coverage.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 77% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 65% for direct work, and 35% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 91
  • Transparency & Controls: 72
  • Accountability: 87
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 83.5%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $25.78 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • 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: Pass
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -24.6%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.45; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.5%; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15.2% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 14.4% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 23.2% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 83.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $37.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $432K · 16 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $7.4M reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 39 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 6 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 4/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 55/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.