Uwena Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 924013871
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2025–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2024
- Location
- Cherokee, NC, USA
- Phone
- 8287885598
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Financial Counseling
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $93,500
- Expenses
- $51,964
- Assets
- $66,536
- Liabilities
- $25,000
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
4 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Cory Blankenship (Executive Director)
People named in this filing
- Lavita Hill (Chair)
- Jade Blankenship (Vice Chair)
- Jennifer Martens (Board Member)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Uwena will work to build generational community wealth within the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians through education, outreach, and resources in financial literacy, digital literacy, and entrepreneurial support.
What it reported doing in 2025
Uwena will support individuals, entrepreneurs, and community leaders in growing their capacity, network, share ideas, and work collaboratively to build generational community wealth - aligned with the Cherokee core values - and supporting an economically sovereign tribal nation.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 72
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 65
- Growth: NotEnoughData
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 55.6%; rating input score 56
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 44.4%; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.28; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.38; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: Limited
- Asset growth: Limited
Details
- Where the money goes: 55.6% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $52K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
- Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 56/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 54/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 9/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.