Lisc
Legal name: Local Initiatives Support Corporation
Overview
Mission
Together with residents and partners, we help forge resilient and inclusive communities of opportunity across America—great places to live, work, visit, do business and raise families. Who we are. Chair of Program and Portfolio Review Ellen Gilligan is the former President and CEO of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Wisconsin’s largest community foundation with more than $ 1.1 billion in assets. Her tenure was marked by growth, collaboration, and a deep commitment to strategies that foster access to opportunity, strengthen communities, and improve lives. Gilligan led the Foundation to undertake one of the nation’s first community foundation campaigns, generating $726 million from thousands of donors...
What it reported doing in 2024
The organization provides grants to community based organizations, small businesses, for-profit emerging developers and others throughout the country to support their efforts to revitalize disinvested communities and/or benefit low-wealth individuals and families. In 2024, the organization issued 1,470 grants throughout the country to support the development of 2,325 units of affordable homes and apartments; 161,342 square feet of commercial, community, and educational facility space; income and wealth building opportunities for individuals and families living on low to moderate-incomes; and capacity building, operations, and other community development activities. The organization also issued 308 grants to small businesses and other institutions throughout the country.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 63% for direct work, and 37% for grants.
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 133030229
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Headquarters
- New York, NY, United States
- Phone
- (212) 455-9800
- Rating
- 86
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Community, Neighborhood Development
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 83
- Transparency & Controls: 86
- Accountability: 94
- Sustainability: 57
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 83.7%; rating input score 84
- Program expense ratio: 87.9%; rating input score 88
- Fundraising efficiency: $25.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Pass
- 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: 99.3%; rating input score 99; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 90.5%; rating input score 90; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- 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: 5.3%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.77; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.66; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.1%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 12% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 9.6% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 83.7% of revenue deployed · 87.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 19 of 21 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $302.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $857K · 74 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $9.2M reported
- Consistency: 45 of 46 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 14 annual filings from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1174 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1477 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Leadership & pay
74 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- MICHAEL PUGH (DIRECTOR/CEO): $857,480 total reported compensation
- DENISE NOTICE-SCOTT (FORMER PRESIDENT): $668,663 total reported compensation
- KEVIN BOES (CEO - BROADSTREET): $645,539 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2024.