Brothers Liberating Our Communities Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
861682869
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2020
Location
Kansas City, MO, USA
Phone
8168967784
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$243,636
Expenses
$430,087
Assets
$220,056
Liabilities
$238,600

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Cornell Ellis (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Cornell Ellis (Executive Director): $87,550 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Brothers Liberating Our Communities (BLOC) provides an equity lens and justice based approach to teacher retention and development, helping schools create environments where all students achieve and obtain the opportunities they deserve. BLOC works to increase the representation of Black Male Educators in education environments.

What it reported doing in 2024

BLOC accomplished multiple successful events and completion of the second cohort of early career educators. These educators were impacted by the unique and personalized career development the BLOC offers. Through contracted services and the support of a nationwide experts, fellows received development that supported their teaching practice, their personal wellbeing, and their financial mobility. BLOC increased the number of applicants for the fellowship by over 300%, increased the membership by 30% and continued to show strong matriculation and persistence of former fellows in education careers.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 93% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 67% for direct work, and 33% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 72
  • Sustainability: 11
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 67%; rating input score 67
  • Fundraising efficiency: $23.19 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -76.5%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.51; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.08; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 20.4%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.8% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -13.4% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -12.5% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 67% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 8 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $288K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $88K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 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 25/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.