Operation Lift Up

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
473221272
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2018
Location
Louisville, MS, USA
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$511,270
Expenses
$573,022
Assets
$18,615
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • GERALD C BRANUM (PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • GERALD C BRANUM (PRESIDENT)
  • MICHAEL COGGINS (BOARD MEMBER)
  • ROGER GADDIS (TREASURER)

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

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

Overview

Mission

Operation lift-up exists to assist people who are trapped in a cycle of poverty, who have been exploited by human traffiking or who are disadvantaged and need a boost to use thier natural gifts.

What it reported doing in 2025

Construction of maternity clinic. Clinic will assist the population of the second largest city in togo focusing on care for mother and child kohima drug & alcohol rehab-this rehabilitation center is located in kohima, nagaland, india. The capacity of this center has been 15. There is long waiting list of men needing the services provided by th center. Olu is investing to expand the facility to 30 beds. The project is in the finishing stage. Families (women and children) are suffering in poverty and lack of basic needs because of the head of household addiction. Innovative farming development-this initiative has created vegestable gardens in primary schools to supplement the children's feeding program. The gardens also serve as an educational component in certain of the schools. Girls education initiative-this is a new initiative started in 2025 to assist orphan girls enrollment in primary school. We concentrate rural villages where poverty is a real problem. Boys get priority for schooling if their family can afford schooling. In 2025 olu assisted 312 girls enrollment. The 2026 goal is a 1000 girls also expanding to the poorest of the poor. Friends of operation lift up-in 2025 olu became the fiscal sponsor of this group. The group is composed of some ladies who share the same goals as olu. In 2025 they provided about 1000 small individual chalk boards and chalk (these are used by young students to practice their writing, math, etc in their classroom). They sponsored the construction of a classroom for kindergarden age children. They fund the innovative farming noted above. In 2026 the innovative farming development will be combined with the friends of operation lift up. Construction projects-olu assists in the construction/renovation of school buildings enabling the education of children.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 99% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 49% for direct work, and 51% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 26
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 99.3%; rating input score 99
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Fail
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: -12.1%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.03; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3.4% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -20.3% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 99.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $569K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 18 of 18 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 8 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 11/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 3/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.