Friends of Seva Mandir

Legal name: Friends of Seva Mandir Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
270672296
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2018, Form 990-N 2009
Location
Edison, New Jersey, United States
Phone
7323930034
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and Fund Distribution
Affiliation
Hinduism

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$474,622
Expenses
$664,968
Assets
$81,168
Liabilities
$31,681

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Uday Mehta (President)

People named in this filing

  • Poonam Abbi (Director)
  • Sanjiv Khanna (Treasurer)
  • Uday Mehta (President)

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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Friends of Seva Mandir is a New Jersey-based 501(C)(3) public charity founded in 2009 exclusively for the purpose of supporting the work of Seva Mandir, a leading non-governmental development organization serving rural communities in southern Rajasthan, India. _Friends of Seva Mandir_ is a small but mighty organization that cultivates support in the United States for _Seva Mandir_ by shining a light on the amazing work being accomplished in rural Rajasthan and facilitating financial contributions from American individuals, businesses and foundations to fund continuing programs in India. The membership of _Friends of Seva Mandir's_ support community numbers over 1,000 participants with over 100 of these making substantial regular monetary donations totaling on average $100,000 annually. _Friends of Seva Mandir_ retains full discretion and control over the distribution of funds...

What it reported doing in 2024

FSM provided support to the Village Institution Building program at SevaMandir. Supporting over 500 village communities, this program facilitatescommunity ownership of the development process

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 95% of its reported program spending out as grants.

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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 93
  • Transparency & Controls: 68
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 15
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 93.3%; rating input score 93
  • Fundraising efficiency: $20.13 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Limited
    • Requires narrative reports: Limited
    • Conducts field audits: Limited
    • May suspend future funding: Limited
    • Requires financial reports: Limited
    • Conducts site visits: Limited
    • Requires grant agreements: Limited
    • May require repayment: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • 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: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: -40.1%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.12; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.39; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15.1% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 93.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $620K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 23 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes foreign activity
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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 scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 58/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 8/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 13/100.