Mobile Giving Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
208164151
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Bellevue, WA, USA
Phone
8668101203
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$423,720
Expenses
$541,251
Assets
$0
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • JOE MANIS (DIRECTOR, CH): $138,600 total reported compensation
  • JIM MANIS (FOUNDER): $9,231 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The mission of the foundation is to enable the mobile channel for charitable giving in support of good causes by using the convenience, security and ubiquity of text messaging and other wireless network based billing systems. Nonprofit organizations will find mobile to be an effective channel for new donor acquisition, fund raising and donor interaction. Donors will find the use of mobile to be convenient, immediate, private and secure. Merging philanthropy with the power of the mobile medium serves the broader objective of expanding the pool of contributors to include those who might only be able to afford to make a small gift through a 5 or 10 charge collected through their wireless bill. Donors can immediately respond to a mobile call to action whether it is delivered at point of sale, on television, via print, etc. 100% of each donation is remitted directly from the wireless operators to the mgf, which in turn gives 100% to the qualified charity recommended by the donor.

What it reported doing in 2024

The mobile giving foundation's (mgf) core operation is to quickly raise funds using an electronic daf model to enable mgf, and indirectly, its donors, to react in real time to address critical charitable needs by offering donors a mechanism by which they can electronically make a contribution to mgf using their cell phones and recommend to mgf the name of a pre-vetted charity, under agreement with the mgf, that the donor would like to support. By "using their cell phones," we mean donors use sms text messaging to respond to a giving call-to-action and to make a charitable donation billed through the donor's wireless phone bill. By "pre-vetted charity," we create a roster of IRS-recognized tax-exempt charities that meet additional standards of trust and accountability. As part of the process of making the contribution to mgf, the donor is presented with the following message: "thank you for contributing to a mobile giving foundation campaign. Your donation is to the mobile giving foundation (mgf), a 501c(3) public charity, which re-grants your donation to the charity(ies) you designated through your text message donation. Your donation will appear as mobile giving foundation on your wireless statement. Per our agreement with all organizations, and in accordance with the internal revenue service, the mgf has the exclusive legal control over all donation amounts. If an organization fails to comply with the mgf standards for participation, the mgf reserves the right to disseminate donation amounts to a complementary organization." a donor's mobile phone contribution is tracked on mgf's records by reference to the donor, with the donor being advised that their contribution is to mgf. The mgf issues a tax donation receipt to the donor itemized by the individual charitable grant recipient. Mgf simply uses modern electronic/mobile communications to radically shorten the length of time to solicit and process donor contributions resulting in a daf operation that is more cost-efficient and timely than historic daf models.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 72% for direct work, and 28% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 93
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 86
  • Sustainability: 7
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 90.1%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $26.52 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings

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: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th 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 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: -27.7%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 27.3%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.5% per year; rating input score 0; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -2.3% per year; rating input score 0; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 90.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $488K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $139K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 7 filed related-organization links
  • 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 1/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.