Wilberforce International Institute

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
264353414
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022
Location
Eden Prairie, MN, USA
Phone
4802426617
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Christianity
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$251,783
Expenses
$230,842
Assets
$83,152
Liabilities
$6,231

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Kevin Cooney (President & Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Kevin Cooney (President & Executive Director): $100,473 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Training International Students to be Redemptive Change Agents in Their Home Societies and Workplaces

What it reported doing in 2025

GLOBAL (AFRICA) FLOURISHING PROJECT: Wilberforce International Institute exists "To equip internationals to bring Christ-centered transformation to their societies." To this end we employ a long-term strategy of education and mentoring of internationals as they study in both the USA and abroad. We continue this mentoring process as they develop into Wilberforce Fellows who have developed and implemented their own redemptive projects in their home societies. All Wilberforce Fellows are expected to share and reproduce their redemptive work with other likeminded people in their home communities. In 2024 Wilberforce pioneered a new project, the Global Flourishing Project (GFP). The aim of this project is to work with our existing internationals to build schools teaching basic entrepreneurship that focus on anti-corruption and bringing about redemptive change in local communities. We began the GFP with a pilot project in Zomba, Malawi in June and August 2024. We partnered with the MINTS Seminary in Zomba and their students. We successfully taught basic college level courses in Entrepreneurship and Marketing to nearly 40 students. We also worked to provide MINTS with StarLink internet and basic PowerPoint project capabilities which we achieved through a gift from a generous donor. We offered five courses in 2025.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% 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 most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 56
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 65
  • Sustainability: 34
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 57.8%; rating input score 58
  • Program expense ratio: 63%; rating input score 63
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.26 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd 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: 75%; rating input score 75; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: 8.3%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.36; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 43.5%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -6.7% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.3% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 57.8% of revenue deployed · 63% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 4 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 6 filed program accomplishments · $146K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $100K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 58/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 19/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 54/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.