Association of Community Employment

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
133846431
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Long Island City, NY, USA
Phone
2122740550
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Community, Neighborhood Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$10,848,425
Expenses
$10,513,023
Assets
$5,464,991
Liabilities
$821,632

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JAMES MARTIN Jr (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • JAMES MARTIN Jr (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $236,120 total reported compensation
  • ELIZABETH MCNIERNEY (DIRECTOR-PROGRAM SERVICES): $162,415 total reported compensation
  • SANDRA SANCHES (DIRECTOR--PUBLIC RELATIONS): $156,931 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Empower homeless new yorkers with needed education & skills-training to help enable goals of self-sufficiency & economic independence. Project comeback-vocational rehabilitation & project stay-lifetime support & aftercare-retention

What it reported doing in 2025

Project comeback is our initial 4-6 month vocational rehabilitation program that provides individuals recovering from addiction, battling homelessness and transition for incarceration, with the skills, support services and motivation they need to obtain and sustain full-time employment and economic independence. Participants receive job-readiness training, supported work experience (providing maintenance services to New York city streets and parks), adult basic education, supplemental skills training (occupational safety & health administration osha; food protection) and vocational support services; computer proficiency and other life skills development and job search assistance. Program activities take place seven days each week year-round, with each participant attending five days weekly, and graduating from the program once they find full-time employment.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 83% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 88.1%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 90.9%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.96 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 3.1%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.52; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.5%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.6% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.5% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 19.2% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 88.1% of revenue deployed · 90.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $9.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $236K · 6 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 7/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 37/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 39/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 58/100.