How to Build Up Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN: 831982842
IRS 990 coverage: 2020–2025
Forms available: Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2023
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone: 4153350356
Rating: 73
Verdict: SUPPORTED
Rating confidence: Moderate
Sector: Community Improvement, Capacity Building N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue: $2,521,027
Expenses: $2,391,711
Assets: $840,650
Liabilities: $192,847

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

HELENA PUIG LARRAURI (CEO/CONSULTANT)

Highest reported compensation

HELENA PUIG LARRAURI (CEO/CONSULTANT): $154,224 total reported compensation
JERRY MCCANN (TREASURER/SECRETARY/CONSULTANT): $42,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

How to build up's (build up) global core team builds peace around the world by bringing together diverse skills: mediation, negotiation, facilitation, marketing, media, filmmaking, design, coding, data analysis, social media, and graphic recording.

What it reported doing in 2025

Build up developed a substantial open source peacebuilding tool enabling peacebuilders to "listen" to social media and gain greater understandings of the attitudes and behaviors driving digital conflicts. This tool is referred to as phoenix and has become recognized and adopted by many in the peacebuilding field. Build up also provided training to allow others to use the tool proficiently.

Operating model

Revenue model: Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model: Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 68% for direct work, and 32% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

Financial Efficiency: 68
Transparency & Controls: 72
Accountability: 86
Sustainability: 32
Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

Mission deployment rate: 71.6%; rating input score 72
Program expense ratio: 75.5%; rating input score 75
Fundraising efficiency: $6.95 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
- Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
- 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: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 17th percentile among comparable filings
Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

Operating margin: 5.1%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.35; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
Officer compensation ratio: 8.2%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

Program expense growth: 22.8% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
Revenue growth: 28.3% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
Asset growth: 9.2% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings

Details

Where the money goes: 71.6% of revenue deployed · 75.5% of spending went to programs
Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.8M in reported program spending
Leadership: top reported pay $154K · 7 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
Contacts: How to reach this organization
Money network: 2 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.

High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 23/100.
Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 43/100.
High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 32/100.
Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 39/100.