The Friendship Bridge

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
841141078
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Lakewood, CO, USA
Phone
3036740717
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
International, Foreign Affairs, and National Security N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$11,406,437
Expenses
$11,168,170
Assets
$24,741,587
Liabilities
$17,385,640

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

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • TRACIE CORDEIRO (PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • TRACIE CORDEIRO (PRESIDENT & CEO): $184,752 total reported compensation
  • CAITLIN SCOTT (CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER): $130,960 total reported compensation
  • NICOLE EUBANKS (CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER): $128,213 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Friendship bridge is a nonprofit social enterprise creating opportunities that empower women in guatemala to build a better life. We use an innovative and high-impact approach to poverty alleviation by combining the tools of microfinance, education, (cont. On page 46) and preventive health services. We call this microcredit plus. As a result of participating in our programs, our clients experience a combination of increased resilience, improved empowerment, and accelerated business development. Learn more at www.friendshipbridge.org.

What it reported doing in 2025

Microcredit plus program in guatemala: friendship bridge's micro-credit plus program offers impoverished guatemalan women micro-loans supplemented with plus services, including non-formal participatory education, artisan training, agricultural training, and preventative health services. During 2025, friendship bridge served over 37,000 women with $33.7m disbursed in loans. The loans average $878 for four to twelve-month loan cycles. Borrowings occur through groups of 7-25 women, each known as a trust bank. From 2021-2025, a 27% reduction in poverty rates were recognized in our clients. During 2025, fb offered non-formal education to all clients, provided specialized agriculture training to 758 clients, our health for life program served over 7,800, and the bridge to success program had 560 entrepreneur clients at year end.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 85% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 54
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 41
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 90.4%; rating input score 90
  • Program expense ratio: 92.2%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.59 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • 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: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2.1%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.22; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.7; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.3% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.8% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.2% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 90.4% of revenue deployed · 92.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $10.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $185K · 19 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2015 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 9 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 20/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 33/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 55/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 14/100.