Generations United Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
311542973
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2022893979
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Private Grantmaking Foundations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,700,596
Expenses
$4,354,337
Assets
$2,903,880
Liabilities
$927,368

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

Leadership & pay

24 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DONNA BUTTS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (UNTIL 8/11/25))
  • KRISTEN KIEFER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (FROM 8/11/25))
  • JAIA PETERSON LENT (DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • ANA BELTRAN (DIRECTOR, GRANDFAMILIES & KINSHIP): $193,951 total reported compensation
  • DONNA BUTTS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (UNTIL 8/11/25)): $190,757 total reported compensation
  • JAIA PETERSON LENT (DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $182,916 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To improve the lives of children, youth and older people through intergenerational collaboration, public policies and programs for the enduring benefit for all.

What it reported doing in 2025

Grandfamilies projects: the organization's national center on grandfamilies works to promote policies and programs to help grandfamilies address the range of challenges they face including those related to housing, legal, education, health and mental health, family relationships, and financial issues.the grandfamilies & kinship support network is a national technical assistance center that helps government agencies and nonprofit organizations in states, tribes, and territories to collaborate and work across jurisdictional and systemic boundaries to improve supports and services for families in which grandparents, other relatives, or close family friends are raising children. Technical assistance is provided through individual, targeted help to government and nonprofit agencies; professional development programming; learning collaboratives; in-depth technical assistance; and through resources, tipsheets, toolkits, and videos which are housed in an expansive resource library on the network's website. The technical assistance center is funded through a five-year cooperative agreement with the u.s. Department of health and human services' administration for community living (acl).

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 82% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 34
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84.5%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 91.1%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: $186.13 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 50th 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 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 7.4%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.67; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.32; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 21.4%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 16.4% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.9% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.5% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 84.5% of revenue deployed · 91.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $194K · 24 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 11 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 5 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 22/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.