Helps International

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
751966419
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Addison, TX, USA
Phone
4697797075
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
International Relief

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,492,182
Expenses
$4,575,963
Assets
$8,553,096
Liabilities
$1,044,494

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • STEPHEN W MILLER (PRESIDENT & CHAIRMAN)
  • JOSE LUIS LOARCA (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • JOSE LUIS LOARCA (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $170,183 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Helps international (helps) provides enduring programs of practical, social and spiritual value to the people in the developing world through a system of partnership and mutual responsibility. Helps takes an integrated approach to poverty reduction with programs focused on four key areas: agriculture, community development, education and health care.

What it reported doing in 2024

Community development: helps' community development program is dramatically improving health & safety in rural areas by installing fuel-efficient cook stoves, water filters & other household products. The open fires traditionally utilized for cooking inside of homes leads to divesting respiratory problems & severe burns. Additionally, waterborne diseases are a significant problem in guatemala, where millions lack access to clean drinking water. Helps volunteers install onil stoves & water filters in thousands of poverty stricken guatemalan homes each year thereby reducing health problems & creating new social & economic opportunities, especially for females. Since 2002, more than 232,000 onil cook stoves and more than 207,000 onil water filters have been installed. In 2024, helps distributed 1,840 onil cook stoves & 1,598 onil water filters.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 91% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 63
  • Accountability: 67
  • Sustainability: 44
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 88.6%; rating input score 89
  • Program expense ratio: 76.7%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $23.79 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 64; 64th 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; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -1.9%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.87; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.7%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -3.1% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3.8% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.9% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 88.6% of revenue deployed · 76.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 8 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $3.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $170K · 9 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 8 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 27/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 59/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 55/100.