Focolare Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
270944965
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Bronx, NY, USA
Phone
6468988600
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$7,541,468
Expenses
$7,327,508
Assets
$7,063,824
Liabilities
$6,868,920

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Christian Veldboer (Executive Director)

People named in this filing

  • Emery Koenig (Director, Chair Person)
  • John Chesser (Director)
  • Christine Tsui (Director, Vice Chair Person)

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

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

Overview

Mission

The Focolare Foundation serves as a catalyst for change, providing financial support, resources, expertise, and capacity-building to empower communities and organizations while amplifying the impact of grassroots initiatives. This approach drives meaningful outreach and supports projects such as Focolare Media, the Focolare Forum for Dialogue and Culture, and numerous other national and international initiatives. Our work is guided by four core activities: Partnerships and Initiatives; Development and Fundraising; Investments; and Grantmaking.

What it reported doing in 2025

The International Center for Unity and Peace is planned as a multi-purpose structure suitable for hosting various local and international events and initiatives. An essential and important part of the project is the surrounding open space where rest areas will alternate with green zones, thus facilitating socializing and interactive activities. The objectives of the project are: to create a space for meetings and prayer among Christians of various Churches; to promote respect, tolerance and the capacity to live together by furthering mutual knowledge and dialogue among the faithful of varying religions; to offer a space for study and research in the intercultural, ecumenical and interreligious fields; to offer exchange meetings, courses of formation and volunteer activities on international and local levels for young adults and teenagers; to provide for Christian youth opportunities for vocational discernment; to offer meetings and formation courses in the field of peace education.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 97% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 100% of its reported program spending out as grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 37
  • Growth: NotEnoughData

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 96%; rating input score 96
  • Program expense ratio: 98.8%; rating input score 99
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Fail
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2.8%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.96; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.97; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

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

Details

  • Where the money goes: 96% of revenue deployed · 98.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $7.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 43 of 43 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and grants
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 4 filed related-organization links
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 8 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 36/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 3/100.