Boost Pad Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
843158649
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022, Form 990-N 2020
Location
Charlotte, NC, USA
Phone
7045603240
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Small Business Development

Reported finances

Revenue
$137,802
Expenses
$219,756
Assets
$29,924
Liabilities
$18,375

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • STEVEN LEWIS (CO-EXEC DIR): $37,600 total reported compensation
  • JOAN RANDALL (CO-EXEC DIR): $32,113 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 Boost Pad equips emerging entrepreneurs with the strategic guidance and support needed to develop innovative solutions build sustainable enterprises and advance economic mobility throughout Charlotte.

What it reported doing in 2025

Founder Community Mentorship and Startup Currency Resource Grants | The Boost Pads Startup Currency and capital access initiatives convert philanthropic dollars into direct catalytic resources for under resourced entrepreneurs. In 2025 these efforts helped founders secure grants for critical needs such as legal formation intellectual property protection marketing and infrastructure upgrades. Program case studies demonstrate tangible impact: one founder used a 5,000 Startup Currency award to cover patent related legal costs and subsequently secured a 10,000 NC IDEA Seed grant; another leveraged Boost Pad funding and support to add multiple new client accounts including a major school contract hire employees and reinvest in software and marketing operations. These outcomes illustrate how early flexible capital and targeted support unlock follow on funding business growth and job creation for low wealth founders who are typically excluded from traditional capital markets. To drive this impact The Boost Pad operates Startup Currency Resource Grants and related capital access programs including pitch competitions and the Nitro Fund. Startup Currency provides small flexible grants often awarded through cohort pitch nights to offset high impact startup and growth expenses. Pitch events also connect founders with potential funders customers and professional service providers. The Nitro Fund serves as a venture philanthropy vehicle that deploys startup currency as grants recoverable capital or equity investments to founders demonstrating traction and a path to sustainability initially seeded by corporate sponsorship and grown through donations and potential investment returns. Complementary activities include Access to Capital events grant writing support pro bono legal services and introductions to mission aligned lenders. Collectively these tools ensure that founders not only know how to grow their businesses but also have the financial runway and professional services required to execute advancing the organizations charitable purpose of expanding economic opportunity and job creation in under resourced communities.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 86% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 94
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 6
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 86.8%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $99.55 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 83.1%; rating input score 83; 52nd 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: -59.5%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.14; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.61; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 31.7%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 23.3% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -8.2% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -24.4% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 86.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $191K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $38K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 42 of 43 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • 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.

Key Signals

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

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 9/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 7/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.