World Orphans

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
330571309
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Colorado Springs, CO, USA
Phone
8886774267
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,257,520
Expenses
$3,479,219
Assets
$1,475,154
Liabilities
$26,899

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SCOTT VAIR (PRESIDENT AN)

Highest reported compensation

  • SCOTT VAIR (PRESIDENT AN): $153,995 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

World Orphans empowers the church to care for orphans and vulnerable families/children by equipping, inspiring, and mobilizing local churches and supporting home-based care and family preservation through a church partnership model. “My name is Adanech Semu. I only have one child. Her name is Rediet Ali. Now she is 19 years old. Her father died in 2008 due to Tuberculosis. I was raising her by myself since then. I was washing people’s clothes to provide for her. When we first joined the program we had nothing to eat. Since I joined I have benefited a lot. In the past I have tried different jobs. But when I was trying to sell different items at the entrance of my house I was witnessing a difference in my income. That’s when this loan program came to help me. When the training comes every year and the money doubles in every cycle, my business starts to grow. I am now selling different...

What it reported doing in 2025

We are committed to seeing orphans and vulnerable children cared for wholistically (physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually) in families through our home based care initiative. Ministry teams from local churches mentor and disciple vulnerable families and those that have taken in orphans, providing love, care, and the hope of the gospel. U.s. Churches come alongside an international church to form church-to-church partnerships built on relationship, as together we work to care for orphans and vulnerable families. World orphans continued to partner with a ministry in northern iraq to minister to refugees, as well as assist with operations of a micro-refugee camps, a school to educate refugee children, and a medical clinic.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 70% for direct work, and 30% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 63
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 26
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 86%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $15.46 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • 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: 97.4%; rating input score 97; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -6.8%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.42; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.4%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.7% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.4% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site
  • Where the money goes: 92% of revenue deployed · 86% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $154K · 6 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 34 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • 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.
  • 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 51/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 13/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.