Kr Scholars

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
861253535
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Midlothian, VA, USA
Phone
8049102035
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Scholarships, Student Financial Aid Services, Awards

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$130,398
Expenses
$125,472
Assets
$27,908
Liabilities
$2,338

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Kristen Johnson (President & Director)
  • Rufus Johnson (Vice President & Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Kristen Johnson (President & Director): $12,542 total reported compensation
  • Rufus Johnson (Vice President & Director): $2,225 total reported compensation
  • Bridgitte Miller Powell (Director): $2,100 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Transforming Futures, One HBCU Scholar at a Time. We create opportunities that enhance educational and professional success for students attending Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs).

What it reported doing in 2025

College Readiness - The HBCU Bridge - provides college readiness programming for high school students from under-resourced communities, with a focus on increasing access to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Students participate in structured sessions on HBCU awareness, scholarships, financial literacy, and career exploration, along with experiential learning opportunities. In 2025, the program served approximately 75 students, with the majority applying to and gaining acceptance into HBCUs.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 86% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 67% for direct work, and 33% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 53
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75.8%; rating input score 76
  • Program expense ratio: 78.7%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $39.21 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 92.4%; rating input score 92; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 3.8%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.22; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.4%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 70.5% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 75.8% of revenue deployed · 78.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 9 board members independent · 3 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $99K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $13K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 40 of 42 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 16 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 44/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.