Matthew E Russell Found

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
455182374
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2015
Location
Woodstock, GA, USA
Phone
6782341798
Rating
62
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
International Relief

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$274,395
Expenses
$206,061
Assets
$211,527
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Florine Russell (Co Founder): $13,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

We increase Literacy to decrease Poverty. Our Mission is to provide an educationally enriched environment where children have access to advanced technology and books in order to facilitate their interest and passion for higher education and learning We achieve this by providing libraries in underfunded or rural schools, and offering reading programs and educational learning tools. We equip the library with media and technology, computers and ereaders preloaded with books. And lastly by training the educator how to incorporate this tool with their curriculum

What it reported doing in 2025

Training in the school. There are rural communities all over the biosphere where children have never had the opportunity to experience the world through reading. Most of the teachers come from this background, even as they have gone to school to receive their degree . Most have not used a library or had access to this educational resource tool. So there is a lot of training that needs to happen for the teacher to feel comfortable with using a library with their students. So we have to spend extra time with teachers so they can understand the importance of the library. And also how to set up a library and the different subjects that can be enhanced with library books . We have developed a training manual and each school that receives a library donation must commit to several days of training before the library is turned over to the school. This core group is comprised of the principal, several teachers and students from each grade to be the over site for the school until a suitable librarian can be hired. We have volunteers, teachers and also retired librarians that travel internationally to assist with the training. Our budget includes international travel cost for the volunteers plus food and lodging

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 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. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 66
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 12
  • Sustainability: 61
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 66%; rating input score 66
  • Program expense ratio: 87.8%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 0%; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Limited
    • 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: 24.9%; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.03; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.3%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -54.3% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 13.4% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10.8% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 66% of revenue deployed · 87.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 9 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $181K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $13K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 40 of 40 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 42/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 30/100.