We Love Buford Highway
Legal name: We Love Buford Highway Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 822154696
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2021–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Jul 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020, Form 990-N 2017
- Location
- Roswell, GA, USA
- Phone
- 4044576166
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Public Foundations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $380,577
- Expenses
- $277,541
- Assets
- $508,842
- Liabilities
- $46,567
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
15 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Lily A Pabian (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Lily A Pabian (Executive Director): $72,458 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Preserving the multicultural identity of Atlanta's Buford Highway.
What it reported doing in 2024
Buford Highway Orchestra Program. The Buford Highway Orchestra Program continues to pave paths for the corridor's children while building strong and lasting, community engagements and connectivity. The year started with 32 returning students and 35 interested students for our 2024-2025 NEW BHOP Beginning Orchestra Cohort. In March, BHOP Children Orchestra attended the Georgia Music Educators Association (GMEA) Large Group Performance Evaluation (LGPE) Level II/III, and the team received 4 Superior ratings, highest given at the evaluation. An original documentary by Xerophile Studios, through a grant by the Latino Public Broadcasting's Digital Media Fund, tells the story of BHOP, which serves immigrant families along Buford Highway - Georgia's most diverse corridor. Told through cinéma vérité, carefully crafted scenes and personal archival footage, La Orquesta tells a different kind of immigrant story - one that centers art, beauty and the transformative power of music. The film is set to release for public viewing in 2025. We served 57 students in 24/25 school year of 14 local district schools, 4 community performances. Over 5000 snacks were distributed, 257 number of parents joined in Facebook Community private page (a growth of 44% since 2023), over 350 attendees to community performances. One of our students was accepted into the Reach for Excellence Program, another was one of 28 students accepted into the IB Program at Tucker High School. And another student received a full scholarship to attend a leadership camp during 2024 summer (sponsored by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation), she also received a full scholarship for four years to Marist.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 62% 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 69
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 59
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 60.5%; rating input score 61
- Program expense ratio: 82.9%; rating input score 83
- Fundraising efficiency: $26 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 27.1%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.83; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 26.1%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -3.7% per year; rating input score 0; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 23% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 40.5% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 8 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 60.5% of revenue deployed · 82.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $230K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $72K · 15 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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 — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 57/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 27/100.