Pencils of Promise Incorporated

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
263618722
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2127773170
Rating
63
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
International Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$6,551,697
Expenses
$3,880,982
Assets
$3,401,456
Liabilities
$82,573

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LESLIE ENGLE (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER / SECRETARY)

Highest reported compensation

  • JULIE BAKER (CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER): $200,206 total reported compensation
  • LESLIE ENGLE (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER / SECRETARY): $178,458 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

We believe every child deserves access to quality education. We create schools, programs, and global communities around the common goal of education for all. We accomplish these activities by dedicating significant amounts of time, labor, and effort to raising money in the u.s. Through youth and professional engagement programs and special events. Through the youth and professional engagement programs and special events. The funds raised allow us to increase our domestic and international reach and impact. At the conclusion of 2025, we have broken ground on over 600 schools around the world. Our schools are open to students in each country and the stages of planning and construction are underway in several new communities across ghana, guatemala, and laos.

What it reported doing in 2025

Our second core program is teacher support. We invest in teacher development through in-service and workshop training sessions. Twice each month, our staff visit government teachers in partner communities to provide guidance in lesson planning, methodology training, and building stronger connections with students. Teachers also attend workshops for group training and peer network building. Our approach emphasizes interactive teaching methods that increase student engagement, because engaged students perform at higher levels. In the short term, our teacher support programs focus on helping teachers create and use effective lesson plans, encouraging interactive methodologies to strengthen rapport with students, supporting peer networks through workshops, and providing classrooms with teaching and learning materials. Over the long term, our goal is to raise primary student literacy scores across all of our regions. The main beneficiaries of our teacher support program are the teachers and students in our schools and communities. By the end of 2025, we had supported over 4,000 teachers and delivered over 24,000 teacher coaching sessions across across laos, guatemala, and ghana.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% 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 total spending goes to programs and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 60
  • Transparency & Controls: 52
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 62
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 48.8%; rating input score 49
  • Program expense ratio: 82.3%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $14.39 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 40.8%; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.88; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.8%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -4.3% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.9% per year; rating input score 100; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.9% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 48.8% of revenue deployed · 82.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 12 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $3.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $200K · 13 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $192K reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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 49/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 48/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 29/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 34/100.