Learnserve International
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 800208444
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2023701865
- Rating
- 64
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Educational Services and Schools - Other
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $786,642
- Expenses
- $677,835
- Assets
- $693,586
- Liabilities
- $45,317
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
13 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Scott A Rechler (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- Scott A Rechler (CEO): $88,062 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
LearnServe international equips high school students from diverse backgrounds with the entrepreneurial vision, tenacity, confidence and leadership skills needed to tackle social challenges at home and abroad.
What it reported doing in 2024
LearnServe Abroad and Incubator: The LearnServe Incubator is a 6-month virtual program that builds on the skills learned during the Fellows Program and brings together young social entrepreneurs from around the world to further develop their social ventures with a focus on human- and equity-centered design, iterative customer discovery, and entrepreneurship skills as well as cross-cultural competencies.In 2024-25, participants from the U.S. and Zambia introduced their ventures to a panel of judges at a virtual pitch competition. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, 17 participants completed the virtual Incubator program.LearnServes Global travel capstone program gives participants the opportunity to understand social innovation through a global lens. Typically students from Washington, DC join Zambian peers for 2 weeks of leadership development, cross cultural exchange, and direct service. In 2025, students from Washington, DC were unable to travel but sustained virtual collaboration with peers in Zambia.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 86% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - Most voting board members are independent and program spending has grown recently. 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: 52
- Transparency & Controls: 55
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 54
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 51.5%; rating input score 52
- Program expense ratio: 59.8%; rating input score 60
- Fundraising efficiency: $7.73 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
- 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: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- 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: 13.8%; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.02; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 13%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.6% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 9.5% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 51.5% of revenue deployed · 59.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $405K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $88K · 13 people listed
- Consistency: 27 of 28 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 52/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 30/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Document-retention policy not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 43/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 28/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 48/100.