Information Equity Initiative Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
872840729
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Boulder, CO, USA
Phone
4152356923
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$372,476
Expenses
$828,640
Assets
$692,691
Liabilities
$972,958

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • NAIARA AZPIRI (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • ERIK LANGNER (DIRECTOR): $239,906 total reported compensation
  • NAIARA AZPIRI (CEO): $160,960 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To ensure that every learner, family, and community can access the information they need to thrive - no connectivity required.

What it reported doing in 2025

The information equity initiative (iei) delivers education, health, and civic content to communities without reliable internet through a multimodal platform: broadcast datacasting, cellular (intermittent and low bandwidth included) and hybrid offline acceleration (cachewave), and satellite delivery. In 2025, iei operated across Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina, and jamaica. Key programs included: community health content delivery to 40+ federally qualified health centers via a 10-year, $541,000 earned-revenue contract with pachc; k-12 digital curriculum delivery to students without home internet via pbs North Carolina; correctional and reentry education serving learners in pa and va facilities, with 450+ served cumulatively since founding; and an iei-led datacasting pilot in three rural jamaican schools funded by television jamaica. Every iei pilot is designed to transition from philanthropic funding into sustained government, institutional, or community support eliminating perpetual philanthropic dependency.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 95% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 75
  • Sustainability: 12
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 81.8%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $0 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Limited
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -122.5%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.84; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.4; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 48.4%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 20.3% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -14.1% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 81.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 4 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $678K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $240K · 5 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $293K reported
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes executive pay
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 1/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 1/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 2/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.