Friends of the Congo
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 371516674
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2019–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2018
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2025846512
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- International Human Rights
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,150,112
- Expenses
- $1,011,202
- Assets
- $125,077
- Liabilities
- $238,765
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Maurice Carney (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Maurice Carney (Executive Director): $42,000 total reported compensation
- Patricia Ndombe (Member): $12,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Raise consciousness about challenges in Congo and support Congolese institutions as they strive to bring about peace and lasting change.
What it reported doing in 2024
Education of the public about the challenges in the Congo In 2024, Friends of the Congo pursued its three-pronged education program - Congo Week, Braking The Silence Speakers Tour and popular education. FOTC organizes Congo Week, the third week of each October. The 2024 Congo Week was the 17th annual event. FOTC coordinates people throughout the globe to participate in the week of workshops, forums, teach-ins, film screenings, rallies, fundraisers, benefit concerts and a host of other activities organized locally in different parts of the world. The flagship event of Congo Week is Congo in Harlem. It is a film and event series where Congolese filmmakers, musicians, artists, intellectuals and practitioners descend on Harlem each year to promote and highlight Congolese cultures and Congos contribution to world civilization. The second of the three programs is the Breaking the Silence speakers tour. Friends of the Congos speakers conducts teach-ins both in person and irtually throughout the globe. The tour officially kicks off on February first and officially ends on July 2nd. However, in reality it lasts all year long as team members are engaged in teach-ins and speaking engagements year round. In addition to participating in the forums, workshops, and other educational programs throughout the year, FOTC coordinates and facilitates local educational forums by providing films, materials, ideas and recommendations to local groups organizing educational forums on the Congo.
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. 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: 73
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 84
- Sustainability: 39
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 78.3%; rating input score 78
- Program expense ratio: 89%; rating input score 89
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- 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: 12.1%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.12; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.91; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.3%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 30.1% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 18.9% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 23.5% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 78.3% of revenue deployed · 89% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $900K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $42K · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 20 of 21 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2019 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 8 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 6/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 2/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 52/100.