The San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund

Overview

Mission

The corporation's specific purpose is to support affordable housing, community development and economic development for California's economically disadvantaged individuals and communities, by lending to, investing in, and directly acquiring such affordable housing and related community development real estate assets.

What it reported doing in 2024

During fy2025, the fund expanded preservation lending by closing six preservation loans that preserved 362 affordable housing units, including supportive and interim housing for vulnerable populations. Major transactions included financing for 2059 mission, the normandy apartments, housing for justice-involved transition-aged youth, and future housing for formerly homeless veterans.during fy2025, the fund advanced new affordable housing production by supporting four new affordable housing developments totaling more than 450 units across the bay area. These projects included permanent supportive housing in santa cruz county, affordable family housing in san jose, and affordable senior housing in san francisco.during fy2025, the fund launched and scaled innovative financing tools to accelerate affordable housing delivery and preservation. These included continued activity of the bay area housing innovation fund and the industrialized construction catalyst fund.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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.

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
010716217
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2015
Headquarters
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
4156636938
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Housing Development, Construction, Management

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 48
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 79
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 22.2%; rating input score 22
  • Program expense ratio: 79.7%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $97.1 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 84.9%; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 42.9; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.43; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 24.2%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15.4% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 16.3% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 20.3% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 22.2% of revenue deployed · 79.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $5.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $411K · 22 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $271K reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 annual filings from 2016 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 3 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

Leadership & pay

22 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • REBECCA FOSTER (CEO): $410,622 total reported compensation
  • JAN LINDENTHAL-COX (CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER): $335,746 total reported compensation
  • TAMAR DORFMAN (CFO): $288,707 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2024.