Mega Lab

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
921361566
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2023
Location
Hilo, HI, USA
Phone
8088544057
Rating
92
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
General Science

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$83,524
Expenses
$67,751
Assets
$58,524
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Haunani Kane (President)
  • Cliff Kapono (Vice-President)

People named in this filing

  • Haunani Kane (President)
  • Cliff Kapono (Vice-President)
  • John Burns (Secretary)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

The MEGA Lab advances environmental education, citizen science, and scientific research focused on coral reef and coastal ecosystems. The organization supports scientific research, provides outreach education, and mentors students to promote public engagement in science and community based conservation. These activities address complex challenges related to climate change, ocean ecology, and human environmental interactions in marine and coastal systems, and require collaboration across scientific disciplines and with local communities to support the protection and sustainable management of these environments.

What it reported doing in 2025

Collaborated with local ocean communities to support coral reef conservation through training and implementation of 3D reef mapping and monitoring techniques. Community members were trained to collect high resolution spatial data and develop habitat maps to inform local decision making and management. This work supported community based efforts to assess reef condition, quantify ecological value, and strengthen local capacity to protect and sustainably manage coastal ecosystems.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 75% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 61
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 81.1%; rating input score 81
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 18.9%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.86; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 105.8% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 31.1% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 81.1% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 5 filed program accomplishments · $68K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 44/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.