HonorED Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
812204859
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
3107386879
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$383,052
Expenses
$220,480
Assets
$268,818
Liabilities
$2,305

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

People named in this filing

  • Karen Sonneborn (Co-Chair & Director)
  • Katherine Boone (Co-Chair & Director)
  • Alka Pateriya (Director)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

To celebrate and reward extraordinary k-12 educators who have made a transformational impact on students' lives.

What it reported doing in 2025

The honored national and honored schools award programs are designed to keep great teachers in the classroom and to inspire a new generation of talent to pursue teaching. The programs recognize nominated teachers who have made a personal, academic, and/or inspirational impact on a student's life. The honored national program recognized one outstanding nominated teacher to be recognized and rewarded monthly. The selected teacher will have their profile, either written or via podcast, posted on the foundation's website and shared on social media and traditional media platforms. The selected teachers will also receive a financial award. The honored schools program selects teachers from within each participating region to receive the life-changing teacher award at the end of the school year.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 71% for direct work, and 29% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 63
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 67
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 48.9%; rating input score 49
  • Program expense ratio: 85%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $38.88 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 42.4%; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.22; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.4% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 48.9% of revenue deployed · 85% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $187K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2016 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 49/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.