Mission: Mary's Meals provides one good meal to some of the world's poorest children every school day. We are a global movement supported by people from many walks of life an ... (More)
Mary's Meals USA is a 501(c)(3) organization, with an IRS ruling year of 2008, and donations are tax-deductible.
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Star Rating System by Charity Navigator
Charity Navigator evaluates a nonprofit organization’s financial health including measures of stability, efficiency and sustainability. We also track accountability and transparency policies to ensure the good governance and integrity of the organization.
Good
This charity's score is 89.39, earning it a 3-Star rating. Donors can "Give with Confidence" to this charity.
This score is calculated from two sub-scores:
Finance: 85.00 View details
Accountability & Transparency: 100.00 View details
This score represents Form 990 data from 2020, the latest year published by the IRS.
View this organization’s historical ratings.
Star Rated Report
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Program Expense Ratio
92.9%
The Program Expense Ratio is determined by Program Expenses divided by Total Expense (average of most recent three 990s).
This measure reflects the percent of its total expenses a charity spends on the programs and services it exists to deliver. Dividing a charity's average program expenses by its average total functional expenses yields this percentage. We calculate the charity's average expenses over its three most recent fiscal years.
Source: IRS Form 990
Administrative Expenses
4.2%
As reported by charities on their IRS Form 990, this measure reflects what percent of its total budget a charity spends on overhead, administrative staff and associated costs, and organizational meetings. Dividing a charity's average administrative expenses by its average total functional expenses yields this percentage. We calculate the charity's average expenses over its three most recent fiscal years.
Source: IRS Form 990
Fundraising Expenses
2.7%
This measure reflects what a charity spends to raise money. Fundraising expenses can include campaign printing, publicity, mailing, and staffing and costs incurred in soliciting donations, memberships, and grants. Dividing a charity's average fundraising expenses by its average total functional expenses yields this percentage. We calculate the charity's average expenses over its three most recent fiscal years.
Source: IRS Form 990
Liabilities to Assets Ratio
72.3%
The Liabilities to Assets Ratio is determined by Total Liabilities divided by Total Assets (most recent 990).
Part of our goal in rating the financial performance of charities is to help donors assess the financial capacity and sustainability of a charity. As do organizations in other sectors, charities must be mindful of their management of total liabilites in relation to their total assets. This ratio is an indicator of an organization’s solvency and or long term sustainability. Dividing a charity's total liabilities by its total assets yields this percentage.
Source: IRS Form 990
Fundraising Efficiency
$0.02
The amount spent to raise $1 in charitable contributions. To calculate a charity's fundraising efficiency, we divide its average fundraising expenses by the average total contributions it receives. We calculate the charity's average expenses and average contributions over its three most recent fiscal years.
Source: IRS Form 990
Working Capital Ratio
0.10 years
Determines how long a charity could sustain its level of spending using its net available assets, or working capital, as reported on its most recently filed Form 990. We include in a charity's working capital unrestricted and temporarily restricted net assets, and exclude permanently restricted net assets. Dividing these net available assets in the most recent year by a charity's average total expenses, yields the working capital ratio. We calculate the charity's average total expenses over its three most recent fiscal years.
Source: IRS Form 990
Program Expense Growth
16.36%
We compute the average annual growth of program expenses using the following formula: [(Yn/Y0)(1/n)]-1, where Y0 is a charity's program expenses in the first year of the interval analyzed, Yn is the charity's program expenses in the most recent year, and n is the interval of years passed between Y0 and Yn.
Source: IRS Form 990
Governance
Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the Form 990 that the organization has these governance practices in place.
Sources Include: IRS Form 990
| Governance: | |
|---|---|
| Independent Voting Board Members ... (More) | |
| No Material Diversion of Assets ... (More) A diversion of assets – any unauthorized conversion or use of the organization's assets other than for the organization's authorized purposes, including but not limited to embezzlement or theft – can seriously call into question a charity's financial integrity. We check the charity's last two Forms 990 to see if the charity has reported any diversion of assets. If the charity does report a diversion, then we check to see if it complied with the Form 990 instructions by describing what happened and its corrective action. This metric will be assigned to one of the following categories:
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| Audited Financials Prepared by Independent Accountant ... (More) Audited financial statements provide important information about financial accountability and accuracy. They should be prepared by an independent accountant with oversight from an audit committee. (It is not necessary that the audit committee be a separate committee. Often at smaller charities, it falls within the responsibilities of the finance committee or the executive committee.) The committee provides an important oversight layer between the management of the organization, which is responsible for the financial information reported, and the independent accountant, who reviews the financials and issues an opinion based on its findings. We check the charity's Form 990 reporting to see if it meets this criteria.
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| Does Not Provide Loan(s) to or Receive Loan(s) From Related Parties ... (More) | |
| Documents Board Meeting Minutes ... (More) | |
| Distributes 990 to Board Before Filing ... (More) | |
| Compensates Board ... (More) |
Policies
Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the Form 990, or for some metrics on the charity's website, that the organization has these policies in place.
Sources Include: IRS Form 990 and organization's website
| Policies: | |
|---|---|
| Conflict of Interest ... (More) | |
| Whistleblower ... (More) | |
| Records Retention and Destruction ... (More) | |
| CEO Compensation Process ... (More) | |
| Donor Privacy ... (More) Donors can be reluctant to contribute to a charity when their name, address, or other basic information may become part of donor lists that are exchanged or sold, resulting in an influx of charitable solicitations from other organizations. Our analysts check the charity's website to see if the organization has a donor privacy policy in place and what it does and does not cover. Privacy policies are assigned to one of the following categories:
The privacy policy must be specific to donor information. A general website policy which references "visitor" or "user" personal information will not suffice. A policy that refers to donor information collected on the website is also not sufficient as the policy must be comprehensive and applicable to both online and offline donors. The existence of a privacy policy of any type does not prohibit the charity itself from contacting the donor for informational, educational, or solicitation purposes. (Less) |
Transparency
Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the Form 990, or for some metrics on the charity's website, that the organization makes this information easily accessible.
Sources Include: IRS Form 990 and organization's website
| Transparency: | |
|---|---|
| CEO Salary Listed on 990 ... (More) | |
| Board of Directors Listed on Website ... (More) | |
| Key Staff Listed on Website ... (More) | |
| Audited Financial Statements on Website ... (More) | |
| Form 990 Available on Website ... (More) |
Additional Information
Unscored
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Total Revenue and Expenses
This chart displays the trend of revenue and expenses over the past several years for this organization, as reported on their IRS Form 990.
Salary of Key Persons
Presented here are this organizations key compensated staff members as identified by our analysts. This compensation data includes salary, cash bonuses and expense accounts and is displayed exactly how it is reported to the IRS. The amounts do not include nontaxable benefits, deferred compensation, or other amounts not reported on Form W-2. In some cases, these amounts may include compensation from related organizations. Read the IRS policies for compensation reporting
Leah Swindon, Executive Director
$95,538 (1.05% of Total Expenses)
Current CEO and Board Chair can be found in the Leadership & Adaptability report below.
Source: IRS Form 990 (page 7), filing year 2020
Business Master File Data
Below are some key data points from the Exempt Organization IRS Business Master File (BMF) for this organization. Learn more about the BMF on the IRS website
Activities:
Activity data not reported from the IRS
Foundation Status:
Organization which receives a substantial part of its support from a governmental unit or the general public 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) (BMF foundation code: 15)
Affiliation:
Independent - the organization is an independent organization or an independent auxiliary (i.e., not affiliated with a National, Regional, or Geographic grouping of organizations). (BMF affiliation code: 3)
Data Sources: IRS Forms 990
The Form 990 is a document that nonprofit organizations file with the IRS annually. We leverage finance and accountability data from it to form Encompass ratings. Click here to view this organization's Forms 990 on the IRS website (if any are available).
Pandemic Response
Due to the unprecedented nature of the pandemic, we give charities such as this one the opportunity to share the story of COVID's impact on them. Charities may submit their own pandemic responses through their nonprofit portal.
Mary's Meals USA reported being impacted by COVID-19 in the following ways:
Program Delivery
Fundraising Capacity
How COVID-19 impacted the organization's operations financially:
Grassroots revenue increased by 38%. Additionally, we are experiencing an influx of supporters and are on target to increase our total supporters by 31% by the end of 2021.
How COVID-19 impacted the organization's delivery of programs:
In 2020, schools began to close globally in response to Covid-19 restrictions. Mary’s Meals was able to pivot quickly to provide a response to the effects of Covid-19 by starting a new community distribution model where families of children received take-home rations to cook at home, their new place of education. In order to continue to reach the children in our programs and ease the burden on families facing heightened food insecurity, Mary’s Meals distributed food, which would normally be served to children at school, to families who can cook the food at home. In addition, soap was provided to promote handwashing. To distribute, families were invited to the schools and formed a socially-distanced line. Our team facilitated the distributions so that they happened quickly/safely and correctly. This approach was a great success in meeting the immediate nutritional needs of children and provided a social safety net for families struggling with the wider impacts of Covid-19.
How this organization adapted to changing conditions caused by COVID-19:
Programmatically, we shifted our model to ensure children were still receiving meals in a safe way while schools were closed. Administratively, our team took appropriate precautions by working remotely and/or hybrid schedules in the office. The use of technology ensured the organization maintained communication amongst the various affiliates, program countries, and international office. All areas abided by the safety guidelines that were set in place to ensure a safe work environment for all.
Innovations the organization intends to continue permanently after the pandemic:
While working remotely has been a model utilized in the US, the innovation that has become more prominent that will be kept in place is various communication technologies. The use of video conferencing tools played a pivotal role in the way our team communicated.
Historical Ratings
| Date Published | Form 990 FYE | Overall Score | Overall Rating |
| Rating Version: 2.1 | |||
| 2/1/2022 | 2020 | 89.39 | |
| 3/1/2021 | 2019 | 89.39 | |
| 2/1/2021 | 2018 | 89.39 | |
| 11/1/2019 | 2018 | 89.02 | |
This organization received multiple star ratings within this fiscal year, due to an update to its Accountability and Transparency data and/or the receipt of an amended Form 990. | |||
| 10/1/2019 | 2017 | 90.71 |  |
Previous: Finance & Accountability / Next: Leadership & Adaptability
Impact & Results
This score estimates the actual impact a nonprofit has on the lives of those it serves, and determines whether it is making good use of donor resources to achieve that impact.
Impact & Results Score
Not Currently Scored
Mary's Meals USA cannot currently be evaluated by our Encompass Rating Impact & Results methodology because either (A) it is eligible, but we have not yet received data; (B) we have not yet developed an algorithm to estimate its programmatic impact; (C) its programs are not direct services; or (D) it is not heavily reliant on contributions from individual donors.
Note: The absence of a score does not indicate a positive or negative assessment, it only indicates that we have not yet evaluated the organization.
Do you work at Mary's Meals USA? Join the waitlist for an updated Impact & Results score.
Additional Information
Unscored
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Largest Programs
Mary's Meals USA reported its two largest programs on its FY 2020 Form 990 as:
$7,722,249
Spent in most recent FY
90%
Percent of program expenses
Grants to Fund School Feeding Programs
$767,780
Spent in most recent FY
9%
Percent of program expenses
Education and Building Awareness of Child Hunger
Previous: Impact & Results / Next: Culture & Community
Leadership & Adaptability
This score provides an assessment of the organization's leadership capacity, strategic thinking and planning, and ability to innovate or respond to changes in constituent demand/need or other relevant social and economic conditions to achieve the organization's mission.
Leadership & Adaptability Score
100
out of 100
The score earned by Mary's Meals USA is a passing score. This score has no effect on the organization's Star Rating.
Encompass Rating V4 provides an evaluation of the organization's Leadership & Adaptability through the nonprofit organization submitting a survey response directly to Charity Navigator.
Leadership & Adaptability Report
100
of 100 points
Mission
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking through articulating the organization’s mission
Mary’s Meals is a global movement that sets up school feeding projects in some of the world’s poorest communities, where poverty and hunger prevent children from gaining an education. We provide one daily meal in a place of education in order to attract chronically poor children into the classroom where they can receive an education that can be their ladder out of poverty. Mary’s Meals locations are housed in primary schools and early childhood development centers in some of the world’s poorest communities. OUR MISSION: Our mission is to enable people to offer their money, goods, skills, time, or prayer, and through this involvement, provide the most effective help to those suffering the effects of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest communities. We welcome all into the Mary’s Meals family and we believe everyone has something important to contribute to the realization of our vision.
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
Vision
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking through articulating the organization’s vision.
Our vision is that every child receives one daily meal in their place of education and that all those who have more than they need, share with those who lack even the most basic things.
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
Strategic Goals
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking and goal setting through sharing their most important strategic goals.
Goal One: Feed More Children: to feed more children in a place of education and help those suffering the effects of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest communities.
Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.
Goal Two: Grow the global movement: to grow the global movement and enable more people to offer their money, goods, skills, time, or prayer to advance the work of Mary’s Meals.
Goal Type: This goal reflects our commitment to further our advocacy work for our organization and or cause area.
Goal Three: Strengthen the organization: to strengthen the organization and Mary’s Meals’ global network in the furtherance of the vision, mission and values.
Goal Type: Invest in the capacity of our organization (financial, management, technical, etc.).
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
Leadership Development
The nonprofit provides evidence of investment in leadership development
Describe an investment in leadership
Investments made in leadership development has been a variety of individualized trainings to further skills. Additionally, the Mary's Meals network has invested in the creation of a peer program that allows staff to interact with one another and learn hands-on bout leadership in a variety of roles.
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
Mobilizing for Mission
The nonprofit provides evidence of leadership through focusing externally and mobilizing resources for the mission.
This organization mobilizes for mission in the following ways:
Thought Leadership
Raising Awareness
What are this organization’s external mobilizaton efforts?
Our leadership focuses externally to mobilize the Mary's Meals mission by raising awareness. Leadership activities may include but are not limited to: presenting at conferences, networking with donors/potential donors, meeting with supporters, promoting through social media, and interacting with funders. Additionally, our leadership ensures activities remain aligned with our strategic aims. This ensures that external mobilization of our mission at an organizational level is appropriate.
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
Story of Adaptability
The nonprofit has an opportunity to tell the story of how the organization adapted to tremendous external changes in the last year.
The biggest external changes occurred due to the Covid-19 pandemic. While operationally we were able to shift to remote/hybrid schedules and adapted to how office operations were handled, the biggest adaptation made has been to service delivery across all of our program countries. as schools closed globally in response to restrictions, we knew our work couldn’t stop. Mary’s Meals was able to pivot quickly to provide a response to the effects of Covid-19 by starting a new community distribution model in which parents/guardians of children received take-home rations to cook at home, their new place of education. This was quickly implemented across our program countries. In collaboration with local communities, governments, local authorities and other agencies, we were able to adapt our program to distribute food to children, as they did their best to learn from home. In order to continue to reach the children in our programs and ease the burden on families facing heightened food insecurity, Mary’s Meals distributed food, which would normally be prepared by community volunteers and served to children at school, to parents or guardians who can cook the food at home. We provided take-home rations, as well as handwashing soap, to parents/guardians on behalf of their children/dependents. To distribute these essential items, parents and guardians were invited to the school where their children/dependents were enrolled, where they form a socially distanced queue. Staff, school feeding committees, and other community members worked to facilitate the distributions so that they happened quickly and as safely as possible while ensuring each individual received the correct amount of food. This approach was a great success in meeting the immediate nutritional needs of children and provided a social safety net for families struggling with the wider impacts of Covid-19.
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
Additional Information
Unscored
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Organization Leadership
Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow
Chief Executive Officer
Jacob Allen
Board Chair
Previous: Leadership & Adaptability
Culture & Community
This score provides an assessment of the organization's culture and connectedness to the community it serves. Learn more about how and why we rate Culture & Community.
Culture & Community Score
90
out of 100
Mary's Meals USA has earned a passing score. This score has no effect on the organization's Star Rating. The organization provided data about how it listens to constituents (Constituent Feedback) and its Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) practices (see report below).
The Culture & Community Beacon is comprised of the following metrics:
Constituent Feedback: 100/100 (30% of beacon score)
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion: 85/100 (70% of beacon score)
Culture & Community Report
90
of 100 points
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Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
85/100 points
70% of beacon score
This organization's score of 85 is a passing score. The organization reported that it is implementing 5 diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices. Charity Navigator believes nonprofit organizations implementing effective DEI policies and practices can enhance a nonprofit's decision-making, staff motivation, innovation, and effectiveness.
View this organization's DEI Strategies
Methodology
We are utilizing data collected by Candid to document and assess the DEI practices implemented by the organization. Nonprofit organizations are encouraged to fill out the Equity Strategies section of their Candid profiles to receive a rating.
Learn more about the methodology.
Constituent Feedback
100/100 points
30% of beacon score
This organization reported that it is collecting feedback from the constituents and/or communities it serves. Charity Navigator believes nonprofit organizations that engage in inclusive practices, such as collecting feedback from the people and communities they serve, may be more effective.
View this organization's Constituent Feedback Practices
Methodology
We've partnered with Candid to survey organizations about their feedback practices. Nonprofit organizations can fill out the How We Listen section of their Candid profile to receive a rating.
Learn more about the methodology.
Analysis and Research
Like the overall Encompass Rating System, the Culture & Community Beacon is designed to evolve as metrics are developed and ready for integration. Below you can find more information about the metrics we currently evaluate in this beacon and their relevance to nonprofit performance.
Constituent Feedback
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
