Vijana Africa
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 861715983
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2025–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2023
- Location
- Rockingham, VA, USA
- Phone
- 5405753107
- Rating
- 69
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $312,769
- Expenses
- $287,319
- Assets
- $97,064
- Liabilities
- $1,137
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
4 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Rodrigue Makelele (CEO and Board Chair)
Highest reported compensation
- Rodrigue Makelele (CEO and Board Chair): $102,018 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Vijana Africa is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting peace and conflict transformation through youth entrepreneurship education and civic engagement. The organization works primarily in the Democratic Republic of Congo Malawi and the United States to empower vulnerable communities through education programs economic empowerment initiatives advocacy around conflict minerals and leadership development for youth and women.
What it reported doing in 2025
Vijana Africa provides educational peacebuilding youth empowerment and community development support for vulnerable children youth families and communities affected by conflict and displacement in Africa with a particular focus on the Democratic Republic of Congo. During the year the organization advanced its mission by supporting mobile education for displaced children promoting peacebuilding and conflict resolution through community and faith-based engagement raising awareness about conflict minerals and corporate responsibility and strengthening youth and community leadership through partnerships outreach and volunteer-led initiatives. These efforts served approximately 7,500 children youth families and community members.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 63% of its reported program spending out as grants.
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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 73
- Transparency & Controls: 71
- Accountability: 69
- Sustainability: 36
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 79%; rating input score 79
- Program expense ratio: 86%; rating input score 86
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 15th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Missing
- 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: 8.1%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.34; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 35.5%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: 55.9% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 31.3% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 79% of revenue deployed · 86% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $247K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $102K · 4 people listed
- Consistency: 42 of 43 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
- 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.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 8 of 8 not reported.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 18/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 38/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.