Village Of Wisdom

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
472060936
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2017
Location
Durham, NC, USA
Phone
6782328657
Rating
66
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Centers, Clubs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,148,448
Expenses
$4,872,470
Assets
$4,462,581
Liabilities
$97,822

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • William Jackson (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • William Jackson (Executive Director): $150,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

We work with families to protect Black Genius, by organizing and mobilizing a community of families committed to the healthy development and reflection of Black youth.

What it reported doing in 2025

Dreamship - completed the second year of a 2-year engagement with our 18 parent leaders, leading to them, among other personal achievements, creating model classroom environments as standards for education practice.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 78% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 31
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.4%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 66.9%; rating input score 67
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.06 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 4th 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: -17.5%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.92; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.1%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 31.6% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 25.9% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 28.7% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 79.4% of revenue deployed · 66.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 7 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $3.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $150K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 24 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2016 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 42/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.