Starfysh

What it reported doing in 2024

Island health any serious attempt at raising the health of a community must start with hygeine. The startling reality is, fewer than 10% of all families on the island of la gonave, haiti have a household latrine. The germs of human waste seep their way into the surface springs where the family water is often gathered. Shoeless children run and play on ground where intestinal parasites lie in wait for their next human host. The good news is that it costs very little to construct a household latrine. A deep pit capped with a concrete base and stool can be built in just a few days. Community health education (che) is, without question, the most effective way to improve the overall health in a place like la gonave. Measuring the impact of che demands more time and patience. Unlike treating acute illness, like cholera or intestinal parasites, etc., ches results are realized in the long run as we see the incidence of preventable illnesses going down, healthier children learning better and missing less school, and their parents being more energetic in their gardens and work. Economic development the sad reality is that the island of la gonave currently has very little in the way of an economy, with very few goods or services being produced that could economic lift by bringing dollars to the island. The great majority of la gonavian businesses are tiny street vendors who sell produce and merchandise imported from haitis mainland. A few larger businesses do exist (e.g., casket-makers, cinderblock makers, etc.) but even these businesses have la gonave as their only market. The island has no exports, none even to her countrymen on the mainland. Not counting dollars brought in by foreign charities and non-government organizations, the vast majority of la gonaves dollars flow away from the island. Sequestered by the sea, la gonave seems to be on her own. The degree to which our efforts begin to thrive on their own will depend on the extent to which we are successful at building local capacity and economy. To that end, it is essential that we birth and stimulate village economies that will enable those communities to assume both control and funding of the initiatives we set in motion. If the village is to prosper, it will only be because she prospers from the inside out, not vice-versa. A careful look at starfyshs various project efforts (e.g., agriculture, education, etc.) reveals the importance we place in integrating a economic model into the project design. Clean water one technology we have found to be extremely effective and accepted by the people of la gonave is bio-sand filtration (www.cdc.gov/safewater/sand- filtration.html). Though it is possible to make them out of concrete right on site in a familys home, we have found that the most time-efficient, cost-efficient way of getting bio-sand filters into the over-10,000 homes across the mountainous terrain of la gonave is to use a commercially manufactured, light-weight yet heavy-duty, stackable bio-sand unit called hydraid one truck flatbed can easily haul 100 filters at a time. We still need to haul heavy sand and gravel, but no concrete. The filters are easy to install and require no electricity. Our first step toward this vision has been to install rainwater catchment systems in life garden and at makochons new school. The 12,000 gallons of water in the schools cistern will be plenty of water to sustain the schools garden and trees. So far, we have 8,000 gallons of rainwater cisterns at life garden. When dry times come, life garden will continue to nurture young trees for future planting. Phase one of our rainwater harvesting vision is to see every large building on the island (schools, churches, etc.) storing water harvested from its roof. Phase two of our vision is to see small rainwater cisterns next to every home, storing the free freshwater that drops to its roof during the rainy season. Every gallon of caught rainwater is a gallon that does not have to be fetched from a dis

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 89.1%; rating input score 89
• Program expense ratio: 92.4%; rating input score 92
• Fundraising efficiency: $26.5 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 64; 64th 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: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Limited
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
  • Whistleblower policy: Fail
  • Document-retention policy: Fail
  • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Missing
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 2%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.23; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.27; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 11.4% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings