Action Institute Nc

Overview

Mission

Action institute nc is a community organization and citizens action group that organizes residents of low-wealth communities and constituencies most of whom are people of color- to represent their own interests on issues of social and economic concern. Through grassroots outreach and base-building, training and leadership development, and strategic campaign planning and execution, residents work together to determine their priorities and make action plans to win concrete improvements and policy reforms. Our issues include but are not limited to healthcare access, affordable housing and tenant rights, criminal justice reform and police accountability, living wages and more family-friendly workplace policies, immigrant rights, public education equity, and voting rights.

What it reported doing in 2024

Civil rights: our civil rights organizing work falls into several broad categories- criminal justice reform and police accountability, immigrant rights, and racial and gender equity. On criminal justice issues, we worked with community partners and city leaders on funding and implementing violence interruption and crisis intervention programs that we had proposed for inclusion in the charlotte and mecklenburg county budgets. Our immigrant rights organizing included support for a deportation defense project we launched early in 2020 to boost legal representation in the local immigration court, along with actions we organized for passage of the dream act, and a path to citizenship for daca recipients and essential workers. Our racial and gender equity initiative organized monthly meetings with women across the state on healthcare access and black maternal health issues, criminal justice reform, covid prevention and addressing inequities in our state's response to the crisis. We built new rage cohorts in several eastern North Carolina counties as part of our drive to expand organizing capacity and advocacy in underserved, high-poverty rural areas.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 90% 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
561088116
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2013, Form 990-N 2010
Headquarters
Charlotte, NC, USA
Phone
7046254050
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 76
  • Accountability: 78
  • Sustainability: 15
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 76.3%; rating input score 76
  • Program expense ratio: 68.8%; rating input score 69
  • Fundraising efficiency: $23.7 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 45.7%; rating input score 46; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -10.8%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.06; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.21; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.1%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.3% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.6% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 76.3% of revenue deployed · 68.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $773K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $57K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 13 annual filings from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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

5 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • ALEXANDER MCCOY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $57,173 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2024.