Tarkanfi-start Walking

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
455426285
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Circle Pines, MN, USA
Phone
7636470651
Rating
91
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
International Development
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$37,497
Expenses
$45,331
Assets
$12,102

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Lynn Rossiter (President)

People named in this filing

  • Lynn Rossiter (President)
  • Roberta Dale (Treasurer)
  • Worknesh Begi (Director)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Community development and poverty reduction in Ethiopia. Our service to the poorest is inspired by Christ. 1. Tarkanfi-Start Walking (TSW) provides poor communities in Ethiopia with a gifted community development leader and teacher -- a volunteer missionary who is a US citizen , a native Ethiopian, and a community development professional. This volunteer missionary serves as the unpaid CEO of the Ethiopian non-profit, Tarkanfi Sustainable Development (TSD). In addition, she manages compassionate activities beyond the scope of TSD, networks widely, welcomes international guests, and educates audiences about the condition of impoverished people in Ethiopia. 2. Tarkanfi-Start Walking (TSW) provides funds for community development, poverty reduction, and emergency relief activities in Ethiopia.

What it reported doing in 2025

Education: We provided $38,000 to TSD towards improving conditions at Awaro Primary School: 1.) $30,000 towards construction and and equipping a block of 4 classrooms. Prior to construction, the school's one large classroom was deplorably inadequate - crumbling mud walls, leaking roof, large pool of standing water at the "teacher end" of the room, and no desks. The fully equipped classrooms are now serving 400 students in shifts. (We hope to help build more classrooms for this school!) 2. $3,000 towards construction of teacher accommodations (basically bedrooms) at this REMOTE school. Teachers now sleep at the school Sunday thru Thursday nights, only returning to their homes on the weekends. Without these bedrooms, the school has no steady teachers -- no education !!!

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filed totals do not add up and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 96
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 90.4%; rating input score 90

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -20.9%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.27; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 147.6% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -65.6% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -77.9% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 90.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 3 filed program accomplishments · $41K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 6 of 7 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Part III transfer expenses within program total did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 21/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 22/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.