Lhes Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 453680782
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2016–2023
- Forms available
- Form 990 2023, Form 990-EZ 2021, Form 990-N 2015
- Location
- Lanai City, HI, USA
- Phone
- 8085657266
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Public Foundations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $194,744
- Expenses
- $228,591
- Assets
- $132,017
- Liabilities
- $2,566
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- BENJAMIN OSTRANDER (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- NATALIE ROPA (EXECUTIVE DI): $19,740 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Increase parental and community involvement with the education of lana'i keiki, and to facilitate successful college and career planning.
What it reported doing in 2023
Design and conduct collaborative and sustainabale community learning opportunities that ensure all participating children meet and/or exceed academic standards, aspire for higher education and careers, and become leaders in their community. Following is a description of the core elements: anything and everything is possible - students, parents and teachers believe that the students are unlimited in how high they can achieve and aspire to. Lanai (place) based - understanding lana`i as a place that represents the broader world where you can use lana`i to replicate life to where the students are living. The students know about the history & culture of lana`i - it can be demonstrated (i.e. Test, drawing, project, etc.). Students know who they are, where they are going- a sense of self. I.e., genealogy. Demonstrate an understanding of how life and living on l? Na`i happens. Whether it is the economics of their home, or their ecosystems on the island, or the social interactions between families. It`s understanding how socio-physio-cultural conditions exist. The measurements are based on their participation and performance on design/problem-based activities. Multi-faceted assessments to measure multi-faceted learning activities. Hands-on and project based: learning by doing and problem- solving. Leadership building - focus on what we are trying to teach- the best way is when students "own" the issues & challenges and try to do something about it. Kuleana (i.e. The fight for more jobs, for better housing, for taking care of our environment, etc.) creating the sense of ownership- kuleana and taking action (the activism). Standing up for what is right. Measure their success based on their leadership in understanding the needs and issues of their community and developing an education & career plan that would address the issues. (i.e. Students create a short essay - look at the extent to which issues were addressed). Life long learning - multi-generational opportunities- focus on observable behaviors with 2 or more generations working together on a planned activity. One person learns - students are working on a plan that extends into their next generation. (i.e. Developing a 5- 10- 20 yr. Plan including education & career). Family engagement - consider a focus group or a survey from the families to see to what extent the project has allowed them to be more engaged in learning things together.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 62% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- 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
STRONG - 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 revenue has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 96
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 69
- Sustainability: 25
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 93%; rating input score 93
- Fundraising efficiency: $110.84 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 87; 87th 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: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- 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: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- 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: -17.4%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.58; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 8.6%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -3.8% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -2.8% per year; rating input score 0; 16th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 93% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $213K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $20K · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 7 filing years from 2016 to 2023
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 17/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 31/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.