Sozo Children
Legal name: Sozo Children International C/o Suzanne Owens
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 274552700
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2010
- Location
- Birmingham, AL, United States
- Phone
- (205) 208-0016
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- International Relief
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $3,263,303
- Expenses
- $3,238,888
- Assets
- $2,444,298
- Liabilities
- $74,819
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
21 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- OWENS SUZANNE (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
Highest reported compensation
- OWENS SUZANNE (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $92,101 total reported compensation
- HEAD CATHY (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $74,406 total reported compensation
- FREEMAN LESLIE (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $74,391 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Our mission at Sozo Children is to empower vulnerable children to become thriving leaders for Jesus Christ. A Sozo mission trip to Uganda is unlike any other mission trip you have experienced. Teams will visit Sozo Village and see the impact Sozo is having in the lives of the children we serve. Teams will serve the Sozo Village and the surrounding community but our primary emphasis is sharing in the wonder of God’s creation with each other. connect When you travel with Sozo, you will make friends with some of the friendliest people you could hope to meet. You will learn about the culture, climate, and community in Uganda and gain a perspective on God’s creation you never knew before.
What it reported doing in 2024
In 2010, sozo children successfully launched the opening of a children's home in uganda, africa to serve at-risk children. The home provides food, clothing, shelter, medical care, education, counseling and discipleship to vulnerable children. The children served are from impoverished communities and are in desperate situations which make them in need of this type of care. For children who have caretakers but lack the means for education and medical care, sozo empowers those families to provide. Sozo has since grown to serve over 150 children. In february of 2015, sozo children purchased 28 acres of land in uganda to begin the village project, which is a community transformational effort to house vulnerable children and provide the surrounding community with medical care and quality education.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 86% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 79% for direct work, and 21% for grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 89
- Transparency & Controls: 77
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 39
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 87.8%; rating input score 88
- Fundraising efficiency: $9.4 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 36; 36th 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: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
- Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
- Requires narrative reports: Limited
- Conducts field audits: Limited
- May suspend future funding: Limited
- Requires financial reports: Limited
- Conducts site visits: Limited
- Requires grant agreements: Limited
- May require repayment: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 0.7%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.75; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 7.4%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 10.3% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 15.2% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 87.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 18 of 18 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $2.8M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $92K · 21 people listed
- Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 36/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 37/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 28/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 39/100.