Kakenya Center for Excellence

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
263658409
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2009
Location
Arlington, VA, USA
Phone
5715274960
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Secondary, High School

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$8,252,449
Expenses
$2,518,505
Assets
$9,574,206
Liabilities
$67,099

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

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KAKENYA NTAYIA (CEO AND PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • KAKENYA NTAYIA (CEO AND PRESIDENT): $190,271 total reported compensation
  • EMILY BARNHILL (DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT): $132,395 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Invest in girls and young women from rural communities in kenya as agents of change through education, health, and skills development. We dream of a world where every girl and young woman is educated, valued, respected, and realizes her full potential.

What it reported doing in 2025

Health: with extremely limited healthcare in the region, most people know very little about their bodies or sexual and reproductive health. In collaboration with our kenyan partner, kakenya's dream funds jijue ("know yourself"), a structured adolescent sexual and reproductive health and leadership training program. These sessions educate both boys and girls on critical topics including bodily autonomy, fgm, and child marriage. In 2025 alone, the jijue program reached over 11,000 students across 57 schools. To further meet the region's dire healthcare needs, we fund the community's first and only youth-friendly health clinic, which provides primary care, mental health support, and stigma-free sexual and reproductive care. The clinic had over 12,000 visits in 2025.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 83% of its reported program spending out as grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 48
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 80
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 24.7%; rating input score 25
  • Program expense ratio: 78.4%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $33.21 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Pass
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Pass
    • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 69.5%; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.8; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.8%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 14.6% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 18.1% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18.9% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 24.7% of revenue deployed · 78.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $190K · 18 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2012 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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: Mission deployment rate scored 25/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 5 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.