Merge Opportunities Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 881698309
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2025–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2024
- Location
- Long Beach, CA, USA
- Phone
- 9497996333
- Rating
- 62
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Human Service Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $618,384
- Expenses
- $442,025
- Assets
- $243,016
- Liabilities
- $49,702
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Barry Vince (President)
- Michael Nelson (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- Erin Earlywine (ED & SECRETARY): $80,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To empower individuals in underserved communities to overcome workforce barriers through preparation and connections to career opportunities.
What it reported doing in 2025
Merge Opportunities provided an Employment Readiness Program for system-impacted individuals, transitioning foster youth ages 1828, and people experiencing housing insecurity. Career coaches offer one-on-one support with job readiness assessments, resume development, mock interviews, and job search assistance. Participants receive help with online applications, networking, and access to professional attire and hygiene items. The program emphasizes upskilling and soft-skills development and connects individuals to resources and community partners for additional wraparound support.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 96% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 40
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 78
- Sustainability: 51
- Growth: NotEnoughData
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 37.5%; rating input score 38
- Program expense ratio: 52.5%; rating input score 53
- Fundraising efficiency: $4.8 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 25th 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: 28.5%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.55; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 18.1%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: Limited
- Asset growth: Limited
Details
- Where the money goes: 37.5% of revenue deployed · 52.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 9 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $232K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $80K · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 38/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 53/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 15/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.