Kenedy Memorial Foundation
Legal name: The John G and Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 746040701
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Corpus Christi, TX, US
- Phone
- (361) 887-6565
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Single Organization Support
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $31,844,186
- Expenses
- $22,119,519
- Assets
- $494,578,717
- Liabilities
- $11,976,917
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
18 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Gloria Hicks (Vice President)
- Ricardo Hinojosa (President)
- Sylvia Whitmore (CEO/Officer)
Highest reported compensation
- Sylvia Whitmore (CEO/Officer): $357,406 total reported compensation
- Paul Damerow (Comptroller): $210,146 total reported compensation
- Marco Castillo (Operations Officer): $180,611 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Sarita Kenedy East established The John G. and Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation with the mission to support and fund mostly Catholic, educational, charitable, and religious activities primarily in South Texas.
What it reported doing in 2024
The Foundation makes all of its charitable donations within the State of Texas. Ten percent of its total charitable grants are made to non-sectarian entities, institutions that are defined as non-religious and not church related. Ninety percent of its total charitable distributions are made to sectarian entities. It is the Foundation's practice that a Catholic sectarian organization should be listed in the Official Catholic Directory. Of these sectarian grants, about seventy percent are made in the South Texas area which includes the Diocese of Brownsville, the Diocese of Corpus Christi, and the Diocese of Laredo. Continued on Schedule O Education has been strongly favored in recent grant giving cycles including tuition assistance for Catholic schools and scholarships for Catholic and public universities. Service organizations and Catholic charities which target health, human services, the indigent, equal opportunity, and service to others are also favored. By continually evoking the Foundation's core values when making grant decisions, the Foundation is able to help countless numbers of people.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 96% of its reported program spending out as grants.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 74
- Transparency & Controls: 73
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 85
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 84.8%; rating input score 85
- Program expense ratio: 79.3%; rating input score 79
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: 99.3%; rating input score 99; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- 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: 30.5%; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 22.36; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6.4%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 84.8% of revenue deployed · 79.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $17.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $357K · 18 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $1.1M reported
- Consistency: 34 of 35 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2014 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 410 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 404 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 40/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.