Serrv

Overview

Mission

To eradicate poverty by providing support to low income artisans and farmers worldwide. Over the years, SERRV has worked with churches, retail stores, other groups and countless individuals to promote and sell fair trade items. As a nonprofit, SERRV also receives contributions and grants to help sustain our fair trade mission. Our 26,000-foot warehouse receives goods sent by artisans and farmers from 23 countries. Multiple catalogs are mailed out each year to current and potential customers. We package and ship as many as 500,000 handmade items and foods a year. Our Mission Statement _To empower small-scale global artisans and farmers through long-term trading partnerships, helping them build sustainable employment, resources, rights, and a vision of hope in their communities._.

Operating model

Revenue model

Donor-supported. 61% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

• Financial Efficiency: 82
• Transparency & Controls: 60
• Accountability: 90
• Sustainability: 16
• Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Details

• What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site
• Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 76.3% of spending went to programs
• Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
• Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $4.1M in reported program spending
• Leadership: top reported pay $225K · 6 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
• Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
• Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes executive pay
• Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
• Contacts: How to reach this organization
• Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
• Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
• 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.

• High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
• High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 10/100.
• High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
• High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
• High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
• Review — Accountability: Governance controls: CEO compensation review process not reported.
• High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 25/100.
• High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 4/100.