Hard Knocks Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
260319907
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2023
Location
Homestead, FL, USA
Rating
93
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$23,190
Expenses
$23,879
Assets
$228
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

1 person listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Derrick Lester (President)

People named in this filing

  • Derrick Lester (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-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The Corporation is organized exclusively for charitable and educational purposes under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Specifically, the Hard Knocks Foundation is dedicated to providing youth services, including but not limited to mentorship, educational support, and life-skills training for at-risk adolescents. The mission is to empower youth to overcome adversity through structured programming and community engagement.

What it reported doing in 2025

Key program accomplishments for 2025 included: Job Placement Initiatives: The foundation implemented a vocational pipeline that assisted youth in identifying, applying for, and securing employment. This aligns with established sociological theories regarding the importance of "early work experience" in preventing long-term economic disenfranchisement.[1] Enhanced Mentorship Programs: With the influx of new volunteers, the foundation was able to provide more robust mentorship. These programs focused on "soft skills" development, which are increasingly recognized in nonfiction business literature as essential for modern workplace success.[2] Service Diversification: The organization expanded its reach beyond basic support to include specialized career counseling and life-skills workshops, directly addressing the multifaceted needs of its growing membership.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 75% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filed totals do not add up and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 100
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 29
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -3%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.01; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.4%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15.8% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -22% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -120.3% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $100K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 1 people listed
  • Consistency: 8 of 9 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 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.

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 — Transparency & Controls: Part III program expenses within total did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 37/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 7/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.