Ghana Make a Difference

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
455615778
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2015
Location
Star, ID, USA
Phone
3128986209
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
International Relief

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,009,648
Expenses
$1,330,754
Assets
$1,343,074
Liabilities
$44,624

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Stacey Hofman (President)
  • Austin Johnson (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Austin Johnson (Executive Director): $174,602 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Ghana Make a Difference (GMAD) protects children and preserves families by providing a path to self-reliance through shelter, vocational training, life skills, education and medical care; provide vulnerable children (those rescued from child trafficking, abandonment or with other special needs) with a place they can call home while working to reintegrate them with their biological family or place them in a new family; provide education by operating a K-8 school and offering scholarships for secondary, post-secondary, and various vocational schools; and provide vision, dental, and surgical care.

What it reported doing in 2025

Support an NGO in Ghana (GMAD Ghana): Children's shelter caring for 50 children. Rehabilitation, care and education for children rescued from trafficking and abandonment. Children are placed in the home by the Department of Social Welfare. Employ social workers who work with other agencies and government social workers to place children in families. Reunified 33 children with families. Care for children with special needs via a model of inclusion. A school for elementary and JHS, using technology to teach via a special catch-up curriculum (most children rescued from trafficking have never attended school). Older children attend a UK high school or a vocational school via scholarships. Support deaf children at a deaf boarding school. Grant and oversee 40-50 scholarships for former shelter children who have been reunited with families or who have transitioned into society as adults. 54 full-time employees: social workers, nannies, cooks, facilities, teachers, security, seamstress, bookkeeper, management, nurse, drivers. The staff is a mix of Ghanaians and refugees from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria.

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 96% of its reported program spending out as grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 63
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 60
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 56.3%; rating input score 56
  • Program expense ratio: 83.2%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $13.58 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 46; 46th 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 33.8%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.01; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13.1%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.9% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 17.1% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 24% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 56.3% of revenue deployed · 83.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $175K · 11 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 22 of 23 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2016 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 56/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 8 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 46/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.