Wakiya Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
873472292
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Fairfax, VA, USA
Phone
7033501106
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$600,000
Expenses
$460,901
Assets
$145,251
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Christopher Ironroad (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Christopher Ironroad (Executive Director): $182,333 total reported compensation
  • Drew Hafer (Director of Development): $121,500 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The Wakiya Foundation is committed to providing resources and tools to expand opportunities and strengthen the conditions required to achieve excellence for Native American students who are pursuing their education in tribal communities.

What it reported doing in 2024

Exploratory work with three tribal colleges in the State of Montana to determine viability of infusing exciting local curriculum with a national online university provider. The partnership seeks to enhance the number of degrees and types of degrees available to students taking college courses in their tribal communities at their tribal community college. Currently some colleges are only able to offer associate degrees or a limited number of bachelors degrees.

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 - 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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 52
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 73.8%; rating input score 74
  • Program expense ratio: 96.1%; rating input score 96
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • 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: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 23.2%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.32; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 65.9%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 65.1% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 21.4% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -62.4% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 73.8% of revenue deployed · 96.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 1 of 1 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $443K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $182K · 3 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 41 of 41 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 15/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.