Third Ladder Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
863206087
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Alpharetta, GA, USA
Phone
8038680090
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and Fund Distribution

Reported finances

Revenue
$506,453
Expenses
$517,070
Assets
$128,592
Liabilities
$5,491

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LAURA CARDNER (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • NAOMI ZACHARIAS (Executive Dir.): $63,667 total reported compensation
  • MALLORY EVEN (Trustee): $59,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Third Ladder raises the standard of charitable giving by connecting donors with humanitarian programs alleviating human suffering. We facilitate responsible donor investment and grant distribution services to support global need. Grants are distributed to vetted international humanitarian program services to promote global responsibility and support domestic direct program therapeutic services to address the physical, emotional and mental impact of trauma to meet goals for physical, cognitive, and emotional healing consistent with our core mission. Our process enables donors to be involved and intentional in their giving to create maximum impact for a wide reach of human need.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 86% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 54% for direct work, and 46% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 22
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83.6%; rating input score 84
  • Program expense ratio: 81.9%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.75 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Pass
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Pass
    • Conducts site visits: Pass
    • Requires grant agreements: Pass
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 17th 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: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -2.1%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.25; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 23.7%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 29.5% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 18% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -2.4% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 83.6% of revenue deployed · 81.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $423K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $64K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 34/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 25/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 45/100.