The Community Group
Overview
Mission
The mission of The Community Group is to create, manage, and nurture high-quality programs focused on education and related services that support families. “The Community Group started in 1970 with a small group of compassionate, forward-thinking educators. Today, we have grown to an organization that serves the community through multiple programs and are still leading the way in delivering innovative programming in a safe, nurturing, and engaging environment.”.
What it reported doing in 2024
Child care circuit: administering voucher management program for the commonwealth of Massachusetts; including distributing approximately $149 million in day care voucher subsidies to eligible residents of the middlesex and essex counties. Also providing information and referral services to the general population.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The nonprofit carried out 100% of its reported program work directly.
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 042473133
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Website reviewed
- Jun 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Headquarters
- Lawrence, MA, United States
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
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 available reserves provide a limited financial cushion.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 97
- Transparency & Controls: 70
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 38
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 96.9%; rating input score 97
- Program expense ratio: 98.4%; rating input score 98
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
- Public monitoring controls: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Public policy transparency: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Public financial transparency: 0 of 5 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Impact reporting controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
- Public relationship transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Public governance controls: 1 of 4 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Zakat policy transparency: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 1.6%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Operating reserve ratio: 0.32; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.36; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0.6%; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 9.3% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.4% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site
- Where the money goes: 96.9% of revenue deployed · 98.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $216.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $291K · 20 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 annual filings from 2009 to 2024
- Money network: 7 filed money-flow records