Far Away Friends Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
464917506
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2017–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2016
Location
Lakewood, CO, USA
Rating
92
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community Improvement, Capacity Building N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$164,760
Expenses
$164,355
Assets
$14,435

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

People named in this filing

  • Jayme Ward (Co-Founder & Board Chair)
  • Dennis OConnor (Board Chair Emeritus)
  • Jen Smith (Board Member)

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

Far Away Friends exists to transform access to quality education in rural Uganda alongside local leaders.

What it reported doing in 2025

Far Away Friends supports access to education and basic needs for children in rural Uganda through its partnership with Global Leaders Primary School. In 2025 the organization provided daily meals educational resources and operational support to approximately 450500 students including both boarding and day scholars.The program helps reduce barriers to school attendance by ensuring students receive consistent nutrition access to trained teachers and a safe learning environment. Support also includes teacher salaries school supplies and ongoing improvements to facilities and learning conditions.Through these efforts the organization works to improve educational outcomes and long-term opportunities for children in the Amolatar District.

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

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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 100
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Sustainability: 26
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 99.7%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 0.2%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.09; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 18.5% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.1% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -8.4% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 99.7% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $164K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2017 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 32/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.