The Very Asian Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 874516826
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- St Louis, MO, USA
- Phone
- 3147199881
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Public Foundations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $151,774
- Expenses
- $147,859
- Assets
- $113,715
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MICHELLE VAN DILLEN (CO-PRESIDENT)
- GIA VANG (CO-PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- LEI DENG (TREASURER)
- MICHELLE VAN DILLEN (CO-PRESIDENT)
- SOOGI HONG (EXECUTIVE DI)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The very asian foundation's mission is to shine a light on asian experiences through advocacy and celebration.
What it reported doing in 2024
The very asian creators fund aims to provide financial support and mentorship opportunities to asian american, native hawaiian, and pacific islander (aanhpi) individuals who are making a career pivot into a creative field and provide a launchpad to achieve their goals and make an impact in their communities and society. The very asian creators fund also includes the idea that, by amplifying the voices, stories, and perspectives of aanhpi creatives and by providing a platform for them to share their work, this grant program can help change the representation and narratives in the creative industry, by providing a space for more diverse and underrepresented voices and perspectives to be visible. By providing mentorship opportunities, the organization hopes to also help demystify the career pivot process and debunk myths hindering individuals in pursuit of their creative careers, by providing real-life examples of individuals who have gone through the process and made it. The overarching goal of this program is to empower aanhpi individuals to make a successful transition into a creative career and to promote representation and diverse narratives in the creative industry, which will have a ripple effect on the community and society as a whole.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 79% for direct work, and 21% for grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 75
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 76
- Sustainability: 49
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 78.5%; rating input score 79
- Program expense ratio: 80%; rating input score 80
- Fundraising efficiency: $11.93 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 44; 44th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th 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: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- 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: 2.6%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.77; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 33.2% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -15.7% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -1.4% per year; rating input score 0; 20th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 78.5% of revenue deployed · 80% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $118K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 11 people listed
- Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 44/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 45/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.