Campaign for Working Families Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
475617041
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Philadelphia, PA, USA
Phone
2154546319
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Legal Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,549,092
Expenses
$4,400,164
Assets
$5,067,918
Liabilities
$1,727,843

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • NIKIA OWENS (PRESIDENT/CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • NIKIA OWENS (PRESIDENT/CEO): $322,518 total reported compensation
  • Cheryl Mackey (Director of Family Stability): $127,365 total reported compensation
  • Diana Allinger (Dir. of Volunteer Eng. & p.Shi): $117,645 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Cwf helps working families and individuals in pa and nj to increase their financial stability by providing free tax preparation services, resource building and asset development. Cwf connects these tax filers to valuable tax credits, quality financial services, and screens and provides application assistance for public benefits.

What it reported doing in 2024

Elevating financial empowerment, the campaign for working families (cwf) provided free tax preparation services through its volunteer income tax assistance (vita) initiative. Operating across 24 community-based locations in philadelphia (17 sites) and southern New Jersey (7 sites), along with offering virtual tax preparation services, cwf processed over 66,000 federal and state tax returns (36,000+ federal and 30,000+ state) in the fiscal year 2024. Demonstrating commitment during the extended tax season (may to october), cwf maintained six active sites and continued its virtual tax preparation services. Furthermore, cwf's collaboration with leading local organizationscommunity legal services, benefits data trust, and clarifiextended cwf's mission to connect taxpayers with a broad spectrum of essential resources, including public benefits, financial advice, and legal assistance. This strategic partnership enabled the screening and referral of over 2,800 individuals for comprehensive support and services.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 76% 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: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 92
  • Sustainability: 39
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78.9%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 81.4%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $39.14 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 3.3%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.15; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.34; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15.4%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17.2% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 14.3% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 24.6% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 78.9% of revenue deployed · 81.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $3.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $323K · 10 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2016 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 45/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 42/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 31/100.