Southwest Organizing Project
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 850368743
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Albuquerque, NM, USA
- Phone
- 5052478832
- Rating
- 89
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Civil Rights
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,320,548
- Expenses
- $1,861,672
- Assets
- $4,485,056
- Liabilities
- $2,062,136
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
4 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- BHEIRA UGALDE (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- GEORGE LUJAN (EXECUTIVE DI): $98,736 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The mission of swop is to empower the disenfranchised in the southwest to realize racial and gender equality, and social and economic justice.
What it reported doing in 2024
In 2025, swop focused on engaging with community through art, food, gender, youth and climate justice programs. Our mass base organizer provided art- based activities and materials to engage youth and support their creativity using activism as a form of expression through art. Our food justice team expanded the garden at project feed the hood and partnered with local schools, groups and herbalists to grow and distribute produce and medicinal herbs. Our gender justice organizer provided a series of bilingual and age-appropriate workshops to local youth about feminisms, racism, reproductive justice, body autonomy and lgbtq topics. Swop worked alongside local community groups like haulno, tularosa downwinders consortium, yucca (youth united 4 climate crisis action) to address issues in pollution, climate and energy related policies. Swop's youth justice program led the New Mexico youth justice coalition (nmyjc), to create community alternatives to youth incarceration and combat the school to prison pipeline and youth criminalization.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 79% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 94% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 85
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 31
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 74.7%; rating input score 75
- Fundraising efficiency: $10.04 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 38; 38th 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: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- 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: -41%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.41; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.46; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.3%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 9.9% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 74.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $99K · 4 people listed
- Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 38/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 4/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 17/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 52/100.