Resilient Activist Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
824982519
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2019–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2018
Location
Kansas City, MO, USA
Phone
9139151971
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$75,238
Expenses
$77,790
Assets
$29,507
Liabilities
$75

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Sami Aaron (Board Chair, Executive Director)

People named in this filing

  • Sami Aaron (Board Chair, Executive Director)
  • Anna Graether (Vice Chair)
  • Briana Anderson (Secretary)

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

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

Overview

Mission

The Resilient Activist (TRA) is a Kansas City-based nonprofit with a global reach, dedicated to supporting individuals and communities as they navigate the complexities of climate change. TRA's philosophy is built on the belief that a sustainable planet begins with empowered, resilient activists. By addressing the emotional toll of eco-anxiety, environmental grief, and burnout, TRA equips individuals with tools to find joy, hope, and connection through community-building, nature-based practices, and mindfulness programs. Participants in our programs learn crucial self-management techniques, boundary establishment, the importance of joy, and personalized activism styles that foster long-term engagement and prevent burnout. In 2025, The Resilient Activist offered 65 events, workshops, retreats, and speakers' bureau programs, serving 1,331 individuals. The organization gratefully acknowledges the in-kind contributions of 12 professionals who volunteered 363 hours, valued at $31,082.

What it reported doing in 2025

Mental Health / Resilience: The Resilient Activist believes environmentalists can protect and nourish the earth only when they are nourished themselves. We offer our resilience programming and community support, both online nationwide and in person in the Greater Kansas City area, to reduce the immense overwhelm and burnout many activists experience in these unprecedented times. TRA's Mental Health / Resilience programs addressed the emotional and psychological challenges of engaging with climate change and social justice issues. The Climate Café series created a welcoming space for dialogue, with sessions like Resilient Activist Conversations and Grief and Extinction fostering connection and shared emotions. Day-long retreats (Regenerative Rest & Renewal Retreat, Liminal Spaces: Finding Your Footing in Today's World, Spirit of Activism) and workshops (4 Steps for a Resilient Life, Self-Care in the Polycrisis) equipped nonprofit leaders and sustainability professionals with tools to find their purpose, set boundaries, and navigate the emotional challenges they experience in the work they do. While the bulk of our programs served environmental justice activists, our offerings extended to anyone seeking resilience-including communities heartbroken by the political divide and climate concerns, as well as parents and grandparents working to leave a joyful and uplifting legacy for future generations. For those communities, our speakers bureau presentations (Resilient Political Activism, Hot Times in the Heartland documentary film screenings) complemented two specialized programs: "Dance of Opposites: Resilience in a Polarized World", a two-part series in Chautauqua, NY, hosted by the African American Heritage House where the Resilient Activist offered teachings that integrated meditation, deep nature connection, resilience tools, and heartfelt conversation; and "Cultivating Mental Health Resilience In The Face Of Climate Change", presented along with a panel of Climate Psychiatry Physicians at the Midwest Climate Summit and for Psychiatry Residents at the University of Wisconsin. Accomplishments in 2025: - 30 events hosted - 416 individuals registered - 550 individuals attended - 65.75 total hours of programming - 92.5 hours of volunteer preparation time - 16 donors offered $24,907 of in-kind donations for program development and presentation.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 83% 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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 61
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 29
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 61.6%; rating input score 62
  • Program expense ratio: 59.2%; rating input score 59

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -3.4%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.38; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15.4%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 56.8% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 33.5% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 27.8% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 61.6% of revenue deployed · 59.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 4 filed program accomplishments · $46K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2019 to 2025
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 59/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 36/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 26/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 29/100.