Providence Student Union
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 455052229
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2016–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Providence, RI, USA
- Phone
- 4014847471
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Student Services, Organizations of Students
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $565,529
- Expenses
- $591,515
- Assets
- $693,407
- Liabilities
- $203,909
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Denezia M Fahie (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Denezia M Fahie (Executive Director): $76,170 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Providence Student Union (PSU) builds student power to improve our education and well-being. We envision a true union for students" that increases young people's collective power and ensures our frustrations, demands, and dreams are heard. At PSU, young people grow as leaders, organizers, and advocates for justice in all forms, today and throughout their lives.
What it reported doing in 2024
Youth Organizing & Leadership: Providence Student Union (PSU) builds youth power, organizes for policy change, and dismantles barriers to high-quality, culturally-affirming education for youth in Providence. PSU supports youth leaders by offering leadership training and mentorship, facilitating educational workshops and culture-building events, and providing a welcoming space for students to gather after school and access resources. Our youth leadership team (LT) continued to develop as the organization's key decision-making body (and part-time youth staff). Our LT members have gone on to take various leadership roles, facilitate a variety of workshops, coordinate events, speak at large gatherings, represent PSU in coalition spaces, and impact hundreds of their peers. In recognition of their hard work and dedication, we awarded the PSU youth leadership scholarship award to the six graduating LT members in 2025.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 79
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 79
- Sustainability: 32
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 83.9%; rating input score 84
- Program expense ratio: 79.9%; rating input score 80
- Fundraising efficiency: $14.87 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th 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: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -4.6%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.17; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.29; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 12.9%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 15.5% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 12.7% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 24.7% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 83.9% of revenue deployed · 79.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $472K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $76K · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 9 filing years from 2016 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 50/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 25/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 48/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 28/100.