The Nobelity Project
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 203795033
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Austin, TX, USA
- Phone
- 5122637971
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Education N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $416,778
- Expenses
- $609,548
- Assets
- $733,484
- Liabilities
- $52,072
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Christy Pipkin (Executive Director)
- Eric Webber (President)
- Leslie Moore (President Pro Tem)
Highest reported compensation
- Christy Pipkin (Executive Director): $99,468 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Bridging gaps in education for over 25,000 students at home, East Africa and Latin America. Since 2005, we build educational infrastructure, support literacy and scholarship, and provide conservation and community connections in the world that we all share.
What it reported doing in 2024
KENYA: Completed 3 new preschools; New or repurposed classrooms, computer and science labs at 7 primary and JSS schools; 3 new library buildings, plus teacher trainings SCHOLARSHIPS: 5 college scholarships funded- totaling 100 to date
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 80% 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.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - 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 the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 88
- Transparency & Controls: 65
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 22
- Growth: 20
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 85.5%; rating input score 86
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.69 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Claims monitoring procedures: Fail
- Requires narrative reports: Fail
- Conducts field audits: Fail
- May suspend future funding: Fail
- Requires financial reports: Fail
- Conducts site visits: Fail
- Requires grant agreements: Fail
- May require repayment: Fail
- Grant itemization coverage: 50%; rating input score 50; 42nd 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -46.3%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.2; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 16.3%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -1.1% per year; rating input score 0; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -0.8% per year; rating input score 0; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 85.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $521K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $99K · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 30 of 31 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- 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: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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: 8 of 8 not reported.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 50/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 35/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 29/100.