Asian Americans for Equality Inc

Overview

Mission

To advance racial, social and economic justice for asian americans and other systematically disadvantaged communities by creating affordable housing and economic opportunity, providing an array of multilingual community services and fostering grassroots leadership and civic engagement.

What it reported doing in 2024

Planning and development: in the past three decades, asian americans for equality has developed and preserved more than 1,200 affordable apartments in immigrant and low-income communities across New York city. The goal of our housing development work is to create safe and healthy homes for low- and middle-income individuals and families, proviidng the housing stability they need to thrive and preserving the essential character of our diverse neighborhoods. Aafe's planning & development team has a strong track record of innovation, pioneering various programs that have become citywide models, including the use of low-income tax credits to build affordable housing, the city's affordable housing cooperative program and the post 9/11 chinatown/lower east side preservation.

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 85% 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
133187792
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Headquarters
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2129798381
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard

Official website

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 65
  • Transparency & Controls: 81
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 63
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 60.4%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 70.7%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: $39.16 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 22nd 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: 99.1%; rating input score 99; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

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: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 23.2%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.97; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.51; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.5%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.7% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10.5% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 60.4% of revenue deployed · 70.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $8.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $346K · 27 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $574K reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 39 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 13 annual filings from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 38 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

27 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • THOMAS YU (CHAIRMAN/ED): $345,979 total reported compensation
  • HUI-YUAN NELSON CHAN (MANAGING DIR OF COMMUNITY): $270,854 total reported compensation
  • MY CHANG (VICE PRESIDENT/CHIEF OF STAFF): $208,865 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2024.