Firm Foundations of Hope

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
881229454
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2023
Location
Detroit, MI, USA
Phone
3136508565
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Employment N.E.C.
Affiliation
Christianity

Reported finances

Revenue
$66,330
Expenses
$44,838
Assets
$32,589
Liabilities
$-178

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Genevieve R Kocourek (President and Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Genevieve R Kocourek (President and Executive Director): $7,540 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Firm Foundations of Hope is committed to spiritual revival and neighborhood revitalization. Through Jesus Christ our Redeemer, we seek person by person transformation of residents by making known the fullness of life to which Jesus Christ invites us, by providing employment and mentoring to unemployed persons, and by doing home repairs for the poor.

What it reported doing in 2024

Our crew members in our transitional work program are learning or growing in their understanding of the dignity of work and in work skills and life skills as they begin or continue employment under the supervision of skilled volunteer project leaders. The transitional work program is for unemployed or underemployed Detroit residents who seek to become employable for fulltime work. In fiscal year 20242025, we trained and mentored 13 people who at some point during that time were employed on our transitional work crew. We are aware of two who were hired on for employment elsewhere after working in our program for a time. Everyone who was hired into our program grew in their skills and knowledge of tool use and home repair skills, and in their understanding of general workplace expectations. We added the case managing aspect of our program this year, to better assist the workers in dealing with outside of work issues, setting goals, and finding needed resources. We further developed our transitional work program this year, by creating separate General Labor and Construction Tracks depending on the applicant's goals for future employment, to better meet their needs, with established criteria for each track. We also established our Phase 3 program to continue mentoring participants after they leave our program for fulltime employment. We had a few contracted projects throughout the years which were either done at cost or earned revenue, which also served to train the workers, who helped on each of those projects.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 92% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 45
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 64.4%; rating input score 64
  • Program expense ratio: 95.2%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: $175.79 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 93; 93rd 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: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 32.4%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.73; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 16.8%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: Limited
  • Asset growth: Limited

Details

  • Where the money goes: 64.4% of revenue deployed · 95.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $43K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $8K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.