Camden Special Services District

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
223776507
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Camden, NJ, USA
Phone
8568234282
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Economic Development

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,190,617
Expenses
$3,106,070
Assets
$2,896,634
Liabilities
$1,353,795

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

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • KRISTINE KENNEDY (EXEUTIVE DIRECTOR): $132,000 total reported compensation
  • RAYMOND ROMO (DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS): $101,722 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To promote the revitalization of the city of camden through a joint public/private venture

What it reported doing in 2025

Activities provided by the camden special services district are intended to supplement and enhance existing city services for the benefit of the residents, visitors, employees, and businesses who rely on a strong and vibrant downtown camden. Cssd also provides similar services under contracts with private property owners, the city of camden, and camden county.core to the organization's function is a clean and safe program which provides the daily removal of debris and hazardous materials from public streets and sidewalks, power washing, curb line painting along commercial corridors by a team of ambassadors called the yellowjackets. As noted in the organization's published annual report for 2025, the yellowjackets removed more than 25,000 bags or 503,000 pounds - of trash from 153 city blocks, parking lots, and parks. Significant support for park maintenance for 2025 was provided by the reimagining civic commons program. The team also removed over a thousand bags of leaves.cssd provides enhanced landscaping through third-party vendors that includes hanging planters, sidewalk planters, lawn mowing, tree planting, and the greening of medians. In 2025 activities included three seasons of plantings, ten new street trees, and six hazardous trees removed. In 2025, cssd deployed holiday decorations along key corridors and within roosevelt plaza park in front of city hall. Cssd's two hospitality ambassadors supported more than 160 community events, seventy placemaking tabling set ups, and assisted over 650 visitors with wayfinding or information requests. Cssd also hosted numerous events, including the downtown camden art crawl and a picnic that coincided with the navy/marines 250.to administer these programs, cssd employs three full-time staff, utilizes an outside controller, and commissions annual required audits.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 71% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.5%; rating input score 89
  • Program expense ratio: 91.8%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2.6%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.93; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.47; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.5%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.8% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.6% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 14.8% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 89.5% of revenue deployed · 91.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $132K · 15 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $2.3M reported
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2015 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 36/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 17/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 42/100.