Libera

Legal name: Libera Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
471601546
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2016
Location
Morgantown, WV, USA
Phone
3042411061
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Centers to Support the Independence of Specific Populations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$985,964
Expenses
$723,176
Assets
$473,145
Liabilities
$23,653

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Karen Haring (Executive Director)
  • Ann Bartolo (Vice President)
  • Paulina Nottingham (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Karen Haring (Executive Director): $80,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Libera is a nonprofit that meets girls where they are with the connection, resources and skills they need to succeed and pursue their dreams. And it all starts with listening.

What it reported doing in 2024

Social Enterprise-Our Lila Bear program provided over 1,800 STEAM activity boxes to Title I elementary students across West Virginia, while also employing 4 young women who aged out of foster care. The Lila Bear Explor(her) Club iis a social enterprise started by Libera in 2022 to help educate, employ, and empower at-risk youth in West Virginia. We employed youth from the Libera Mentorship program to work part-time creating our STEAM activiity boxes inspired by the stories of Appalachian women and places and to help faciliitate our STEAM exploration programs in schools. Families can purchase our boxes online and have them shipped directly to their home anywhere in the US. All profits from this social enterprise are invested back into our nonprofit programs for mentoring, training, and elevating opportunities for at-risk youth across West Virginia. See Schedule O for additional discussion.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 66% 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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 93
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 57
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 59.9%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 82.4%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $24.62 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 12th 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: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 26.7%; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.65; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.1%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 33.3% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 38.9% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 58.2% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site
  • Where the money goes: 59.9% of revenue deployed · 82.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $596K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $80K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 27 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 30/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule D land buildings reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 33/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 52/100.