Friends Without a Border

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
133880402
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2126910909
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Specialized Education Institutions

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,190,373
Expenses
$4,893,159
Assets
$2,800,693
Liabilities
$197,569

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • NICOLE PAGOURGIS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND SECRETARY)
  • KENRO IZU (FOUNDER AND HONORARY PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • NICOLE PAGOURGIS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND SECRETARY): $154,986 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Friends without a border fwab was established in 1996 with the belief that every child has the right to a healthy and loving life. Fwab accomplishes this by providing free, compassionate medical care to children in southeast asia, by creating health education programs, and by training local health care professionals.

What it reported doing in 2025

Lao friends hospital for children lfhc opened on february 11, 2015 in luang prabang with an outpatient department. In 2016, the hospital opened a neonatal unit, as well as a surgical theater, which greatly expanded the reach of services available to children in laos. The thalassemia and development clinics opened in 2017 to better serve the needs at the outpatient department. The neonatal unit was expanded in 2018 to respond to the growing caseload. Fwab aims to expand lfhcs outreach programs to teach children and families health awareness and disease prevention practices, in addition to home care visits to patients who have chronic diseases or require follow-up care after hospital visits.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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 most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 63
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 41
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84%; rating input score 84
  • Program expense ratio: 88.2%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $21.46 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 5.7%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.57; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.2%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.1% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.5% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 84% of revenue deployed · 88.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $4.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $155K · 13 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2018 to 2025
  • 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 8 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 45/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 19/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 54/100.