Zam Forward

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
992517799
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2024
Location
Lenoir, NC, USA
Phone
3305505866
Rating
65
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
International Development

Reported finances

Revenue
$67,970
Expenses
$79,518
Assets
$31,012
Liabilities
$2,755

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • STEPHEN KINES (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • PETER BOYLE (PRESIDENT)
  • WALEED KHALIL (VICE-PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • STEPHEN KINES (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • PETER BOYLE (PRESIDENT)
  • WALEED KHALIL (VICE-PRESIDENT)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Zam Forward supports agricultural development and community-based assistance initiatives in rural Zambia, focused on improving food security, income generation, and sustainable local economic development.

What it reported doing in 2025

Agricultural development. Coordinated a honey project with 350 small scale village farmers for a total of 3500 hives. Provided seeds and fertilizer for 120 Zambian Farmers. Worked with farmers to promote sustainable farming techniques and assisted them to find appropriate markets for their crops.Educational development. Provided hygiene supplies to 3 rural primary schools (grade 1-7) with a total of 1271 students. Provided notebooks and pens/pencils to 1271 students. Provided backpacks and school shoes to 139 vulnerable (orphans or otherwise disadvantaged) students.Zambian general support. Provided support for 2 workers including transportation, food, and lodging. Purchased general tools and equipment for the workers to use as well as rental of storage facilities for the equipment.

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 98% 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 program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 39
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 21
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 42.1%; rating input score 42
  • Program expense ratio: 35.4%; rating input score 35

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -17%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.39; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 50.3%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 83.3% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.1% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -31.7% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 42.1% of revenue deployed · 35.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 4 filed program accomplishments · $28K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 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.

Key Signals

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

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 42/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 35/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 15/100.