Black Gravity Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
871578309
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Management & Technical Assistance

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,855,421
Expenses
$1,674,103
Assets
$954,208
Liabilities
$344,252

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • CHIPO SACHIRARWE (BOARD MEMBER): $284,150 total reported compensation
  • JANAY NAZAIRE (BOARD MEMBER): $267,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Blk grvty is an economic design firm. We build the infrastructure that connects capital to ownership and health, which are the structural drivers of a more intelligent, durable economy foreveryone.

What it reported doing in 2024

Industry leadership and knowledge transfer our convening activities have established us as a central hub for industry knowledge exchange, facilitating partnerships, sharing best practices, and creating collaborative opportunities that benefit the entire community business development ecosystem. These initiatives have generated measurable networking value and knowledge transfer resulting in new business formation. Womens health economic impact initiative we launched a strategic investment program targeting businesses that improve womens health outcomes, recognizing the direct correlation between womens wellness and economic productivity. Research demonstrates that healthier women generate higher workforce participation rates, increased entrepren home equity entrepreneurship initiative we developed a comprehensive homeownership preservation and activation strategy that is designed to transform residential real estate equity into entrepreneurial capital. Our program includes an innovative multisensory educational exhibit that traces the historical evolution of american homeownership, contextualizing current challenges while demonstrating pathways for leveraging home equity as business startup capital. This approach is designed to address both housing stability strategic capital partnership program through targeted partnerships with fund managers, we facilitate growth capital access for small and midsize businesses with demonstrated scaling potential. Our curated approach connects vetted funds with appropriate funding grant capital, resulting in more sustainable funds which invest in businesses that create measurable job creation, revenue acceleration, and market expansion across diverse industry sectors.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 98% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 84% 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

SUPPORTED - 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 72.5%; rating input score 72
  • Program expense ratio: 80.3%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $28.76 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 16th 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; 76th 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: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 9.8%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.57; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.36; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 32.9%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 68.8% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 14.4% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -11.7% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 72.5% of revenue deployed · 80.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $284K · 4 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $551K reported
  • Consistency: 25 of 26 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.