Mali Rising Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
201927457
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2021
Location
Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Phone
8018104525
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$195,109
Expenses
$205,498
Assets
$130,971
Liabilities
$1,805

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

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ELISABETH HUDSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (AS OF 9/30/25))
  • MERRITT FREY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (UNTIL 11/30/24))

Highest reported compensation

  • MERRITT FREY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (UNTIL 11/30/24)): $73,170 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To empower the children of mali, west africa by expanding and improving educational opportunities for them within their own villages.

What it reported doing in 2024

Quality - mali rising strengthens education in resource-limited communities by training teachers and principals in student-centered techniques. Educators are evaluated on lesson preparation, teaching style, foundational skills, instructional technique, group work, and gender equity practices. After completing our training, teachers show improvements of 30% on average across these core areas. To foster a culture of continuous learning, the program also provides space for peer-to-peer exchange and ongoing professional development through regular knowledge-sharing sessions and active whatsapp groups for educators and administrators.mali rising also provides new textbooks core subjects for 7th and 8th grade classrooms. Core academic skills are reinforced through targeted initiatives such as the french language intervention program (flip), which helps students build fluency in the instructional language of french. Middle school students from 10 villages participate in flip each year, demonstrating an improvement of 20% on average in their french language assessment scores. As part of mali rising's broader commitment to literacy and girls' education, mali rising's girls literacy program strengthens reading levels and academic confidence among adolescent girls. At the end of the program, 80% of participants evaluate themselves as reading at a competent or strong level and none of our participants are unable to read by the end.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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 most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 51
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 81.3%; rating input score 81
  • Program expense ratio: 77.2%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $15.38 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Fail
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 0%; rating input score 0; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -5.3%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.64; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 35.6%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.8% per year; rating input score 0; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 81.3% of revenue deployed · 77.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $159K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $73K · 15 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2012 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 8 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 51/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 29/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 30/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 43/100.