Historical Financial Comparisons

This page provides detailed comparisons of our (1) Overall Expenses, (2) Direct Program Expenses in Nicaragua, and (3) Donations and Fundraising Income from 2012 to 2018.

8Summary of VISEDAL’s Finances, 2012–2018

We’ve increased our overall expenses as we’ve substantially expanded and enhanced the services we provide to our scholars in Nicaragua.
In Nicaragua, our largest increases in expenses have come from adding staff members and renting a facility for our scholars to study, play, and engage with staff.
We continue to devote the vast majority of our expenditures to direct program expenses in Nicaragua.
Our overall donations and fundraising income has grown. Increases in fundraising income have been our biggest driver.

Overall Expenses

The increases in our overall expenses in recent years have been driven by growth in our direct program expenses in Nicaragua, reflecting the substantial expansion of the services we provide.

For example, we have added more staff, a new facility, a breakfast program, and transportation stipends. We also enhanced our monthly food packages and provided additional tutoring services.

Fees and legal expenses were also higher in recent years. The main driver is that in 2014 we became an official NGO in Nicaragua, which involves compliance expenses.

The other factor in our increased fees and legal expenses is that in 2015 we added insurance for our organization and board of directors in the United States.

Direct Program Expenses in Nicaragua

The substantial growth in direct program expenses in Nicaragua reflects the continued improvement and expansion of our support for our scholars.

Direct Program Expenses as a Percentage of Overall Expenses

We strive to maximize the impact every dollar we receive has on our scholars.

Total Revenue

Our overall donations and fundraising revenue continues to grow each year. We are extremely grateful for all of our supporters.

General donations (Initiatives Fund) are mostly one-time contributions and therefore often fluctuate from year to year. Our Staff Fund has provided crucial funding over recent years and allowed us to increase our staffing in Nicaragua

Net Income

Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we have been able to save money over the years.

We’ve used this surplus to add more scholars to our program, expand the breadth of services offered to our scholars such as counseling and Casa VISEDAL, and establish a reserve fund.