Lift Orlando Inc

What it reported doing in 2024

Education: lift orlando's cradle-to-career goal is to support a high performing educational pathway beginning with early childhood all the way to promising careers. Lift orlando supports the educational pathway by engaging community members and coordinating alignment between community schools, community members and best in class not-for-profits, while measuring and evaluating progress towards our shared goals. In 2024, our education services impacted 1,028 students/children, 149 teachers, and 21 schools and early learning providers, in partnership with 12 community organizations. Empowered scholars, lift orlando's college and career readiness program, supports 32805 zip code students by removing barriers to post-secondary success. The program offers one-on-one mentorship, college prep, career guidance, and a flexible final-dollar funding scholarship. In 2024, 20 students participated, and 18 received scholarships. Lift's education team executed its third year of an early learning program, now called the early learning collaborative, which supports early education providers in the 32805 zip code by providing missing resources needed to nurture young children's cognitive and social emotional development for success in school. Through this program, our team invested in 18 early learning providers. These funds have been allocated to make infrastructure updates, operational and staffing support, early learning intervention screenings and enhance curriculum and teaching resources. Our partnership with early learning providers has impacted over 600 students and 91 teachers within the 32805 zip code. Launched in fall 2024, lift orlando's senior ambassadors program connects trained residents from pendana senior residences with orange center students needing reading support. Guided by our resource teacher, four senior volunteers work one-on-one with 13 first and second graders scoring in the bottom 30% on star reading assessments. The program runs three days a week for three hours, using ocps literacy curriculum and measurable outcomes to track student progress. Additionally, in partnership with the ymca and the jacqueline bradley-clarence otis boys & girls club, lift orlando supported swimming lessons for 96 students in 2024. After a skills assessment of 140 youth at the pendana at west lakes pool revealed that 68% could not pass, we collaborated with partners to fund four swim lessons per student for those in need. Lift orlando continued its support of the west lakes early learning center (elc) by participating in fundraising, community engagement, and programmatic partner coordination. The elc provides high-quality and affordable early childhood education for the children of west lakes. In 2024, the elc enrolled 132 children and employed 40 team members. By december 2024, 57 children were receiving speech and language services, 42 were in occupational therapy, 21 in physical therapy, 13 in music therapy, 37 in feeding therapy, 12 in play therapy, 6 in personal care services, and 7 in applied behavior therapy. Additionally, 15 adults participated in life counseling services. In 2024, lift continued to foster relationships with and work beside school administrators, teachers, parents, and community partners to actively develop services that dismantle barriers that prevent educational advancement, while tackling historic gaps and environmental factors that inhibit a child's achievement potential. In addition to this, lift continued to provide funding toward teacher appreciation at the jacqueline bradley & clarence otis boys & girls club, jones high school, legends academy, rock lake elementary, orange center elementary school, and the west lakes early learning center-including ongoing engagement and resource support at orange center elementary.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 83.8%; rating input score 84
• Program expense ratio: 80.1%; rating input score 80
• Fundraising efficiency: $9.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
  • Compensation committee: Pass
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Pass
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 97.9%; rating input score 98; 34th percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 90%; rating input score 90; 21st percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Fail
  • Document-retention policy: Fail
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -3.6%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.29; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.13; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 18.7%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 24.7% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 12.4% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 14.8% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings