African American Alliance of CDFI CEOs

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
852659114
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2020
Location
Orlando, FL, USA
Phone
9544837570
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,636,061
Expenses
$6,945,253
Assets
$15,113,990
Liabilities
$4,977,677

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Lenwood V Long Sr (CEO/Admin)
  • Amber Banks (President/Admin)

Highest reported compensation

  • Lenwood V Long Sr (CEO/Admin): $342,000 total reported compensation
  • Amber Banks (President/Admin): $262,500 total reported compensation
  • Awamary Khan (CFO/Admin): $215,833 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The Alliance serves Black -led CDFI Nationwide. Founded in 2018, The Alliance has grown with 56 Black -led Community Development Financial institutions (CDFIs) committed to the support and growth of Black Communities and the Black executives leading CDFIs that serve those community

What it reported doing in 2025

The Policy & Research Program supports the Alliance's mission by providing policy analysis, research, strategic advocacy, and data collection on issues affecting Black-led CDFIs and the communities they serve. Core activities include monitoring legislative and regulatory developments, producing policy memos, public comments, testimony, and related materials, and engaging with federal agencies, policymakers, and strategic partners. The department also develops and administers the Alliance's annual member survey and related research tools to collect data on member activities, needs, and impact, which helps inform the Alliance's policy positions, program planning, external reporting, and efforts to advance equitable access to capital, housing, and economic opportunity. The Black Renaissance Fund was created to help close the 6:1 asset gap between Black-led CDFIs and their counterparts. To achieve this, the fund has set a goal to raise $125 million in low-cost, patient debt and unrestricted grant capital for reinvestments to Alliance members, and operating support for the Alliance as an organization. In 2022, the Alliance began its efforts to operationalize BRF and secure capital. The first investments into the fund included a $200 thousand PRI from the Adrian Dominican Sisters, a $3 million PRI from Bank of America, followed by a $5 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation for capital deployment and credit enhancements. During 2025, BRF received $1.5 million in added debt for capital deployment.In December of 2024, BRF deployed its first loan with $7.1 million of loans receivable as of December 2025. In addition to loans, the Alliance provided $500 thousand in grants to help build capacity and support operational needs for those CDFI members most in need. BRF is fully operational and has set up credit and collection policies, underwriting templates, a board approved credit committee, a fully functioning loan tracking and servicing platform, and a framework for capturing impact

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 85% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 88% 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.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 68
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 24
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 82.4%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.95 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: -23.2%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.18; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.33; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 19.8%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 23.5% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 13.1% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 31.5% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 82.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $5.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $342K · 17 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 21 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 42/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 4/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.