Solidarity Inc
Our mission is to provide community-driven, public health-based engineering to people in crisis.
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Solidarity Inc
EIN: 85-3924084
as of November 2024
as of November 11, 2024
Mission
Believing in building systems that protect health, Solidarity is a women-founded, women-led, humanitarian engineering organization. Our mission is to provide community-driven, public health-based engineering for people in crisis. As engineers, infrastructure specialists, and technology experts, we have a wide scope of programming that prioritizes the root causes of public health crises that often compound in humanitarian settings. We break our activities into three programs: Water, Sanitation, Hygiene (WASH) & Basic Infrastructure; Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics (STEAM) & Play; and Data & Advocacy.
Ruling year
2021
Executive Director, Co-Founder
Erin Hughes
Main address
1731 Sepviva Street
Philadelphia, PA 19125 USA
EIN
85-3924084
Disasters and emergency management
Civil engineering
Playgrounds
Public health
STEM education
Population served
Immigrants and migrants
Refugees and displaced people
NTEE code
Disaster Preparedness and Relief Services (M20)
IRS subsection
501(c)(3) Public Charity
IRS filing requirement
This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.
Tax forms
Communication
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Tens of thousands of refugees, migrants, asylum-seekers, and displaced populations from all over Latin America and other parts of the globe spend months and even years of their lives trapped in dangerous Mexican border cities, awaiting asylum in the United States. Many have fled their home country due to religious or political persecution, civil war, gang violence, extreme poverty, and climate change displacement. Now they are trapped in cities where murder, armed robbery, carjackings, kidnappings, extortion, and sexual assault are common. Unjustly, the populations we work with are particularly vulnerable to these atrocities. These camps are overcrowded and incredibly under-resourced. Most people sleep in tents and have limited access to WASH infrastructure, shade, electricity, education, and other basic needs. In the absence of support from governments or large international organizations, there is a critical need to address these inhumane conditions.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Water, Sanitation, Hygiene (WASH) & Basic Infrastructure
According to UNICEF, preventable WASH-related disease is the highest cause of death for displaced children. In conflict zones, children under the age of 5 are 20 times more likely to die from diarrheal disease than from the conflict itself.
Working at the intersection of disaster response and development, Solidarity has a wide range of WASH and infrastructure activities that address sudden-onset needs (such as the provision of emergency water, portable toilets, and hygiene supplies) and long-term regional needs (such as capital construction of shelters and infrastructure). Our projects have a wide range of public health initiatives: from the design, construction, and maintenance of water and stormwater systems to menstrual health promotion with Doctors Without Borders.
Play & Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics (STEAM)
As infrastructure specialists, we prioritize infrastructure that is most pressing to public health, ensuring that our approach accounts for the needs of the entire population- intentionally including children. The shortage of play opportunities for displaced populations is often a result of limited resources, overcrowded conditions, and a focus on immediate survival needs, leaving insufficient attention and resources allocated to the crucial role of play.
Play is critical to the public health of displaced populations as it offers a vital outlet for emotional expression, social integration, and psychological healing, particularly among vulnerable populations, thereby contributing to overall well-being and resilience. Through the construction of playgrounds, implementation of community-based murals, and facilitation of STEAM classes, our Play & STEAM programming centers on the survival and development needs of children in both the immediate and long-term.
Data & Advocacy
In our project locations, we are one of the few aid organizations present. This is partially because traditional humanitarian response efforts categorize priorities into disaster/emergency response, which is immediate but temporary, or development, which is long-term. The reality is that displacement is often both an immediate disaster and a potentially indefinite circumstance–this gap in how populations are defined leads to an ever-widening chasm in the delivery of humanitarian aid. Political realities also prevent aid from reaching certain populations, as larger humanitarian organizations like the U.N. are subject to legislation and can lack organizational agility.
This is why technology-based and data-driven advocacy is an indispensable pillar of our work. By using various technologies including drone imagery, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and Artificial Intelligence (AI), we increase the long-term efficacy of our projects.
Where we work
Photos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Liters of potable water delivered
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Immigrants and migrants
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Solidarity Engineering is committed to reducing human suffering by applying community-driven engineering in places in crisis. As an engineering organization, a large majority of our work is focused on addressing critical gaps in WASH and other infrastructure in refugee camps along the U.S.-Mexico border. However, we are a diverse and multidisciplinary organization, consisting of team members with backgrounds in a variety of disciplines beyond engineering, such as public health, nursing, research, and logistics. Through interdisciplinary efforts, we can better respond to beneficiary and community needs in a holistic and sustainable manner.
Our top priority is to empower the communities we work with by prioritizing their interests, incorporating their feedback, and building up their capacity. Working alongside healthcare professionals allows us to tackle problems collaboratively. Medical professionals often treat the symptoms of disease. Engineers can treat the cause. Only together can we solve health-related problems and achieve our joint goal of reducing suffering.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Our engineering interventions are unique and innovative, and they allow for holistic and multidisciplinary solutions. There are no other engineering or technical groups that work along the U.S.-Mexico border, and we implement the following initiatives to alleviate suffering and to improve the standard of living in the camps, with the aim of creating a safer and more humane environment for this marginalized population:
-WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) projects
-Technical site design, mapping and planning
-Research & development projects for water treatment and emergency response equipment
-Shelter infrastructure design and construction management
-Stormwater management and flood mitigation
-Constructing safe spaces for children within the camps (soccer fields, schools, playgrounds, etc.)
-Educational outreach: STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) classes for children; english classes for women; menstrual hygiene management classes for women and girls
-Advocacy and social engagement (podcast and social media platforms)
-Public health research
Additionally, we periodically implement emergency-response trips in order to provide access to lifesaving WASH resources (such as water filters and hygiene kits) to displaced populations who are making their journey to U.S.-Mexico border.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
Financials
Financial documents
Download audited financialsRevenue vs. expenses: breakdown
Liquidity in 2023 info
927.92
Months of cash in 2023 info
7.7
Fringe rate in 2023 info
5%
Funding sources info
Assets & liabilities info
Financial data
Solidarity Inc
Balance sheetFiscal Year: Jul 01 - Jun 30
The balance sheet gives a snapshot of the financial health of an organization at a particular point in time. An organization's total assets should generally exceed its total liabilities, or it cannot survive long, but the types of assets and liabilities must also be considered. For instance, an organization's current assets (cash, receivables, securities, etc.) should be sufficient to cover its current liabilities (payables, deferred revenue, current year loan, and note payments). Otherwise, the organization may face solvency problems. On the other hand, an organization whose cash and equivalents greatly exceed its current liabilities might not be putting its money to best use.
Fiscal Year: Jul 01 - Jun 30
This snapshot of Solidarity Inc’s financial trends applies Nonprofit Finance Fund® analysis to data hosted by GuideStar. While it highlights the data that matter most, remember that context is key – numbers only tell part of any story.
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Business model indicators
| Profitability info | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted surplus (deficit) before depreciation | $143,013 | $43,378 |
| As % of expenses | 67.9% | 14.6% |
| Unrestricted surplus (deficit) after depreciation | $143,013 | $43,378 |
| As % of expenses | 67.9% | 14.6% |
| Revenue composition info | ||
|---|---|---|
| Total revenue (unrestricted & restricted) | $353,620 | $339,808 |
| Total revenue, % change over prior year | 0.0% | -3.9% |
| Program services revenue | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Membership dues | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Investment income | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Government grants | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| All other grants and contributions | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| Other revenue | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Expense composition info | ||
|---|---|---|
| Total expenses before depreciation | $210,606 | $296,430 |
| Total expenses, % change over prior year | 0.0% | 40.8% |
| Personnel | 22.0% | 53.5% |
| Professional fees | 78.0% | 1.0% |
| Occupancy | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Interest | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Pass-through | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| All other expenses | 0.0% | 45.5% |
| Full cost components (estimated) info | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Total expenses (after depreciation) | $210,606 | $296,430 |
| One month of savings | $17,551 | $24,703 |
| Debt principal payment | $0 | $0 |
| Fixed asset additions | $0 | $0 |
| Total full costs (estimated) | $228,157 | $321,133 |
Capital structure indicators
| Liquidity info | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Months of cash | 8.5 | 7.7 |
| Months of cash and investments | 8.5 | 7.7 |
| Months of estimated liquid unrestricted net assets | 8.4 | 7.7 |
| Balance sheet composition info | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash | $148,694 | $191,152 |
| Investments | $0 | $0 |
| Receivables | $0 | $0 |
| Gross land, buildings, equipment (LBE) | $0 | $0 |
| Accumulated depreciation (as a % of LBE) | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Liabilities (as a % of assets) | 0.8% | 0.1% |
| Unrestricted net assets | $0 | $0 |
| Temporarily restricted net assets | N/A | N/A |
| Permanently restricted net assets | N/A | N/A |
| Total restricted net assets | $0 | $0 |
| Total net assets | $147,568 | $190,946 |
Key data checks
| Key data checks info | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Material data errors | No | No |
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Documents
Executive Director, Co-Founder
Erin Hughes
As Executive Director, Founder, and Licensed Professional Engineer, Erin leads the Solidarity team as they implement humanitarian engineering projects to address displaced populations in need. Specializing in stormwater management, she holds both a B.A. and M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Drexel University and currently lives in Philadelphia, PA.
Number of employees
Source: IRS Form 990
Solidarity Inc
Officers, directors, trustees, and key employeesSOURCE: IRS Form 990
Compensation data
There are no highest paid employees recorded for this organization.
Solidarity Inc
Board of directorsas of 11/09/2023
Board of directors data
Erin Hughes
Solidarity Engineering
Chloe Rastatter
Solidarity Engineering
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
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