Native Nations Education Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
481307077
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2019
Location
Hilo, HI, USA
Phone
8087690060
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$268,809
Expenses
$423,894
Assets
$421,850
Liabilities
$28,983

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Kahi Brooks-Richards (Executive/Project Director): $72,100 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 organization provides training, education, development, research and scholarship for projects related to education and improving the life conditions of indigenous peoples. Primary current activities create and support diverse Hawaiian culture based education activities for Native Hawaiians in Hawai'i.

What it reported doing in 2024

Partner in Puuhonua Wellness - Phase 2: Sustainability Agriculture and Agricultural Technology project. The project goal is to contribute to the food resiliency and workforce of the Sustainable Agriculture and Agricultural Technology (SA/AT) industries on the islands of Hawaii, Molokai, Maui, Kauai and Oahu as well as to the personal and professional development of at least 55 formerly incarcerated Native Hawaiian and their historically underserved family members annually. This will be done by providing career and technical training education as well as cultural interventions, both of which will help transform mindsets and behavior and strengthen the ability to withstand the stresses of reintegration. NNEF's role is 1. Work with the CTE trainer and BFC to incorporate the Sustainable Agriculture and Agricultural Technology (SA/AT) curricular content into its Native Hawaiian cultural education framework. 2. Provide referrals to cultural practitioners and/or supplemental training in the form of Professional Development and other activities for project personnel, contractors and community collaborators and hub managers when needed. 3. Assist with recruitment services of project participants on Hawaii Island. 4. Provide intake services, including, but not limited to, production, gathering and processing of participant and community hub manager intake forms and other documentation. 5. Provide educational and mentoring support to project participants as needed.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 62% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 93% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 64
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 20
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 95.7%; rating input score 96
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 0%; rating input score 0; 19th 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: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -57.7%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 17%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 16.8% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 12.1% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 29% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 95.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $406K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $72K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 40 of 42 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 4/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 30/100.