Black Lens
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 990696180
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2025–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2024
- Location
- Spokane, WA, USA
- Phone
- 5098287719
- Rating
- 74
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Printing, Publishing
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $177,450
- Expenses
- $122,358
- Assets
- $92,375
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- April Eberhardt (Executive Director)
People named in this filing
- Rick Williams (Treasurer)
- Luc Jasmin III (Secretary)
- Alethea Dumas (Chairman)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Our mission is to serve as a voice and agent of change for the Black Community using stories, information, and shared experiences to expand awareness and build bridges for everyone to thrive.
What it reported doing in 2025
The Black Lens publishes and distributes an independent newspaper dedicated to all aspects of the Black community in Eastern Washington, using stories, information, and shared experiences to expand awareness, build bridges, and elevate Black voices. Through print, digital, and other platforms, The Black Lens provides accessible journalism that fosters understanding, equity, and community connection.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 95% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 63
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 54
- Growth: NotEnoughData
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 53.6%; rating input score 54
- Program expense ratio: 77.7%; rating input score 78
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 31%; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.75; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 35.6%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: Limited
- Asset growth: Limited
Details
- Where the money goes: 53.6% of revenue deployed · 77.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $95K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 7 of 7 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 54/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 50/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.