Make a Day Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
823422637
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2019
Location
Columbus, OH, USA
Phone
6143448412
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Homeless Centers

Reported finances

Revenue
$570,441
Expenses
$433,587
Assets
$447,190
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • CHRISTY HAYES (EXECUTIVE DI): $91,716 total reported compensation
  • ALEX EMRICH (SECRETARY): $23,120 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Empowering the impoverished through inclusive community events, acts of kindness, outreach, advocacy, and educational awareness.

What it reported doing in 2025

Program 1: stabilize make-a-day delivered mobile and pop-up outreach services to individuals experiencing homelessness or housing instability in columbus, Ohio. Core activities included pop-up care villages and mobile van outreach, providing direct assistance, food access, personal care, and connection to community resources at the point of need. In 2025, make-a-day had 11,483 engagements with neighbors through meals, partner services, resource navigation, and haircuts. Program 2: restore make-a-day provided housing navigation and stability support through its mad solutions program, helping individuals problem- solve housing crises and connect to longer-term resources. In 2025, make- a-day served 151 individuals with intensive case management support. Program 3: advance make-a-day supported economic mobility and justice navigation through its move the box initiative, providing expungement assistance, record sealing support, workforce development, and financial empowerment services. This program addressed structural barriers that limit access to employment, housing, and economic opportunity for individuals with justice involvement. In 2025, make-a-day provided 75 individuals with legal navigation and support.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 61% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 66
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 61
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 61.5%; rating input score 61
  • Program expense ratio: 80.6%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.6 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 22nd 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: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: 24%; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.03; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 26.5%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 13.7% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 61.5% of revenue deployed · 80.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $349K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $92K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 26 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • 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.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 42/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule G fundraiser detail did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 44/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.