Mercy Project Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 271987472
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Bryan, TX, USA
- Phone
- 2146736732
- Rating
- 67
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Fund Raising and Fund Distribution
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $516,069
- Expenses
- $486,450
- Assets
- $350,660
- Liabilities
- $791
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CHRISTOPHER FIELD (CEO/FOUNDER)
- DEREK DICTSON (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- CHRISTOPHER FIELD (CEO/FOUNDER): $47,917 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Mercy project seeks to encourage economic development within ghana in order to reduce the need for child slavery. The organization focuses on implementing new agricultural fishing methods in ghanaian villages, which will allow for villagers to work without having to utilize child labor. Upon release of the children, mercy project works to reintegrate the former slaves with their families and provide for their basic needs, including education.
What it reported doing in 2025
Child rehabilitation and reintegration into their families: upon a village's release of their trafficked children, mercy project transports the children to a specialized rehabilitation shelter where the children begin receiving physical and emotional support. The children live at the shelter for 3-4 months during which they begin their formal education and are brought to full health from any ongoing medical issues that have been untreated. Once ready, the children are reunited back into their families where they and their parents continue to receive support and empowerment from mercy project's social workers.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 89% 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and program spending has grown recently. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 81
- Transparency & Controls: 52
- Accountability: 57
- Sustainability: 46
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 83.3%; rating input score 83
- Program expense ratio: 88.3%; rating input score 88
- Fundraising efficiency: $14.41 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 5.7%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.72; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.9%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 0.4% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.6% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6.4% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 83.3% of revenue deployed · 88.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $430K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $48K · 5 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2011 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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 scored 0/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 46/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 47/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 33/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 48/100.