Heart of Niko Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 332872702
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2025–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- Lake Orion, MI, USA
- Rating confidence
- Limited
- Sector
- Baseball, Softball
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $147,721
- Expenses
- $6,073
- Assets
- $141,648
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Kari Perazza (President)
- Steven Jensen (Vice President)
People named in this filing
- Kari Perazza (President)
- Timothy Hoover (Treasurer)
- Marisa Holloway (Secretary)
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 Heart of Niko Foundation provides financial assistance to young athletes who demonstrate passion character and determination but face financial barriers that limit their ability to participate in organized sports. The Foundation was created in memory of Niko Perazza a talented young athlete who loved baseball and basketball and played both sports with passion joy and heart. In December 2022 Niko was diagnosed with LMNA dilated cardiomyopathy a rare and life-threatening heart condition. Despite the diagnosis Niko continued to live with courage humor determination and faith working tirelessly to return to competitive sports. Niko unexpectedly passed away on January 9 2026. Nikos resilience and perseverance inspired the creation of the Foundation that is dedicated to providing financial resources to baseball basketball and softball players in need of assistance to continue playing their games and in turn develop important skills linked to success in adulthood.
What it reported doing in 2025
The Heart of Niko Foundation was created to expand opportunities for youth athletes who demonstrate passion determination and character but face financial barriers that limit their ability to participate in organized sports. Our grant program focuses primarily on athletes participating in baseball softball and basketball the sports that Nicholas "Niko" Perazza loved and played with passion and joy. Through financial assistance for equipment league fees travel costs training and camps the Foundation helps ensure that young athletes can continue to compete develop and grow through sports. To date the Foundation awarded $14,300 in grants assisting 5 athletes. The impact on these athletes extends far beyond athletics. Participation in sports fosters discipline leadership resilience teamwork and confidence. These skills shape young people into stronger students teammates and future community leaders. By removing financial barriers to participation the Heart of Niko Foundation helps ensure that young athletes are not excluded from opportunities that can positively influence their personal development and long-term success. Through these efforts the Foundation transforms Nikos powerful story of perseverance into meaningful opportunities that benefit youth families and communities. The Heart of Niko Foundation measures the success of its grant program through both direct and long-term outcomes. Key performance indicators include: number of youth athletes receiving grants annually amount of financial assistance distributed for sports participation number of athletes supported in baseball softball and basketball programs continued athletic participation of grant recipients personal development outcomes reported by families coaches and athletes. In addition the Foundation tracks how financial assistance directly removes participation barriers allowing athletes to join teams access training opportunities and compete in events they otherwise would not have been able to afford. Through these measurable outcomes the Foundation ensures that funding is translated into real opportunities for youth athletes while maintaining transparency and accountability for supporters and grant partners.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 98% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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
- The available evidence is not sufficient to produce an overall rating for this filing. This is not a warning sign.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: NotEnoughData
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 83
- Growth: NotEnoughData
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: Limited
- Program expense ratio: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 95.9%; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 23.32; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: Limited
- Asset growth: Limited
Details
- Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
- Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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.