Sister Cities of Nashville

What it reported doing in 2024

City partnerships - the organization enjoys sister city and friendship partnerships with belfast, northern ireland; caen, france; edmonton, canada; erbil, kurdistan, iraq; kamakura, japan; magdeburg, germany; mendoza, argentina; taiyuan, china; tamworth, australia and chengdu, china. The organization's members were able to enjoy and participate in a variety of in-person, civic, professional, and cultural exchanges with all but one of its partner cities including visits to and/or from belfast, northern ireland; caen, france; magdeburg, germany; mendoza, argentina; tamworth, australia; chengdu, china; edmonton, canada; kamakura, japan and erbil, kurdistan, iraq.student exchanges - the student ambassador program involves area public and private high school students in hosting or traveling abroad to sister city partners. During the 2024-2025 school year, sister cities of nashville coordinated reciprocal student exchanges between nashville and mendoza, argentina: caen, france and magdeburg, germany in october 2024, april 2025, and june of 2025. These exchanges impacted over 1,200 students and teachers in davidson county through in-person travel or in-person visits from students from sister cities in argentina, france, and germany. Additionally, scn was able to send two students and a teacher from james lawson high school to chengdu, china for a debate competition. Our students placed second overall in this international debate challenge. Sister cities of nashville visited and worked directly with 19 different schools through presentations and classroom visits in an effort to introduce and inform students about the programs through educational outreach and programming. Additionally, the organization has an academic ambassador program that involves approximately 19 public and private high schools. There are 24 educators serving as academic ambassadors in schools across the nashville area who are actively promoting sister cities' programs and exchanges in their schools and participate in programming focused on connecting students and educators to counterparts in other sister cities. The organization plans to welcome students once again from mendoza, caen and magdeburg during the next school year, and continues to work closely with partners in other sister cities to create new avenues for collaboration and connecting students through virtual classroom exchanges and both inbound and outbound on-the ground student exchanges.nashville partnerships - the organization engaged in partnerships during the 2024-2025 fiscal year with a variety of cultural, educational, art, government, and non-profit organizations and institutions in nashville. These included 19 public and private high schools; vanderbilt university, Tennessee state university, belmont university, Tennessee language center, nashville public library, society of nashville's artistic photographers, frist art museum, cheekwood botanical gardens, nashville zoo, nashville predators, Tennessee world affairs council, nashville bar association, metro parks & recreation, nashville healthcare council, nashville chamber of commerce, nashville area hispanic chamber of commerce, nashville metro council, Tennessee state museum, country music hall of fame, nashville farmers market, national museum of african american music, community foundation of middle tn, nashville soccer club, the grand ole opry, nashville downtown rotary, and many, many more.during the 2024-2025 fiscal year, the organization presented many opportunities and experiences for nashvillians that showcased their programs with various sister cities. These events included celebrate nashville cultural festival, nashville cherry blossom walk and festival and the chinese new year festival featuring kite flying activities, highlighting chinese culture. The organization hosted in person events for the annual membership mixer, annual world of friendship gala, and held their annual fundraiser raffle, giving away a trip to argentina and r

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 89.1%; rating input score 89
• Program expense ratio: 80.9%; rating input score 81
• Fundraising efficiency: $8.47 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th 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: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
  • Whistleblower policy: Fail
  • Document-retention policy: Fail
  • CEO compensation review process: Fail
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -10.1%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.72; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 30.9%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 16.4% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings