Pratham International Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
920761459
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Newton, MA, USA
Phone
6179174685
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
International Relief

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,006,741
Expenses
$1,920,120
Assets
$2,755,932
Liabilities
$25,502

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Balakrishnan Venkatachalam (President & COO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Balakrishnan Venkatachalam (President & COO): $279,335 total reported compensation
  • Pragya Dhariwal (Secretary & Treasurer): $129,001 total reported compensation
  • Devyani Pershad (Director & Consultant): $63,956 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Pratham international was established to support learning innovations for children and youth in contexts across the globe. The organization facilitates the adaptation and dissemination of proven, scalable solutions, such as the evidence-based teaching at the right level (tarl) approach, through customized programming and technical assistance suited to local contexts. It also develops educational technology tools and solutions for low-resource settings, focusing on assessment, learner support, and digital content management. Additionally, the organization partners with local institutions and governments to empower youth through skill-building initiatives.

What it reported doing in 2024

Education- In 2024, the Education vertical deepened its support to existing partners while launching new pilots on foundational learning across three regions - Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Education programs primarily focused on adapting Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL), an evidence-based approach that helps children build foundational literacy and numeracy skills quickly by grouping them according to learning levels rather than age or grade. TaRL programs supported by Pratham International and its partners have been adapted in over 20 countries and 30 languages. In MENA, Morocco's Ministry of National Education, Pre-school and Sports continued its efforts to scale TaRL to 75% of schools by 2027, with the aim of reaching three million learners. In parallel, Morocco's Ministry of Interior piloted an NGO-led after-school model to engage civil society in rural areas to advance foundational learning, reaching 16,657 learners at endline. In Egypt, early efforts centered on program design and training of two implementing organizations. In Latin America, collaborations in Brazil, Colombia, and El Salvador reached over 14,000 children through diverse models delivered in collaboration with local partners. In Sub-Saharan Africa, Pratham International continued to collaborate with Empower Learning Africa (ELA)and its partners on TaRL programming. Since 2019, TaRL has reached 5.8 million children cumulatively across 16 countries, with government-led scale-up efforts underway in Cte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, and Zambia. In 2024, adaptations for the early years were also introduced, while innovations within TaRL programming continued. The first adaptation of Pratham's early years approach, Leap Forward, was implemented in collaboration with Glasswing International across 20 schools in Guatemala and El Salvador. The model integrated community engagement through School Readiness Fairs, parental engagement via WhatsApp groups, and Glasswing staff-led teaching and learning activities during the school day. A total of 873 Pre-K to Grade 2 students participated in the initial School Readiness Fairs, while 190 and 134 children took part in classroom activities in Guatemala and El Salvador, respectively. Grades 1 and 2 in-class activities were also conducted in Kenya through ELA's learning camps.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 87% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 97% 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. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 71
  • Sustainability: 49
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 73.1%; rating input score 73
  • Program expense ratio: 75.8%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: $28.56 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Pass
    • 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: 88.5%; rating input score 89; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 50%; rating input score 50; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 4.3%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.44; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 27.6%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 60.7% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -55.1% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 73.1% of revenue deployed · 75.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 8 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $279K · 8 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $913K reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 50/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 6 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 49/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 50/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.