Kindling Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
853804930
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2022
Location
Kingston, MA, USA
Phone
3398322721
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Public Safety, Disaster Preparedness & Relief N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue
$876,010
Expenses
$909,058
Assets
$64,843
Liabilities
$19,743

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Danielle Antonellis (President & Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Danielle Antonellis (President & Director): $84,129 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Kindling's mission is fire safety for all. Kindling advances fire safety in vulnerable communities worldwide through research, advocacy, learning, and practice. By bridging fire science and social science, Kindling addresses fire risks in informal settlements, humanitarian camps, and low-resource settings. This year, Kindling focused on interdisciplinary fire risk research, community-based safety assessments, and public safety advocacy to reduce fire hazards and improve resilience for at-risk populations.

What it reported doing in 2024

In FY2024, Kindling advanced its mission to improve fire safety in vulnerable communities through applied research and collaboration funded by the Fire Safety Research Institute. The organization conducted large-scale fire experiments to generate data on fire dynamics in informal settlements, implemented a community-based fire risk assessment in BM Section A of Khayelitsha (Cape Town, South Africa), and convened both the Global Fire Safety Community of Practice under the Global Shelter Cluster and the Cape Town Fire Safety Community of Practice to connect humanitarian agencies, governments, researchers, practitioners, and residents in strengthening fire safety knowledge and standards in low-resource settings.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 21
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 95.7%; rating input score 96
  • Program expense ratio: 92.2%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Pass
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Pass
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -3.8%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.07; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.3; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.3%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 100.2% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 78.9% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16.1% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 95.7% of revenue deployed · 92.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 8 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $838K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $84K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 44 of 45 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 5 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 26/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 39/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.