City First Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
363812182
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
7735888295
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Printing, Publishing
Affiliation
Christianity

Reported finances

Revenue
$64,278
Expenses
$119,106
Assets
$828,521
Liabilities
$722,500

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • REV MARK D JOHNSON (EX. DIRECTOR): $54,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

City first's mission is to resource urban neighborhoods, ministries, and families educationally, economically, socially and spiritually. 1. We maintain an urban hub for missional communities we share the tapestry center & annex facility with churches and missional communities we provide a facility for groups that perform missional outreach and retreats in chicago we sponsor art, concerts & community events 2. We cultivate church planting & the strengthening of neighborhoods we facilitate the creation of new churches and ministries - tapestry fellowship we participate in neighborhood organizations and city-wide partnerships we provide care and counseling through individual and small group outreaches 3. We help promote leadership development we host gatherings for religious and business growth organizations we initiate programs that stimulate leadership development

What it reported doing in 2024

We cultivate church planting & the strengthening of neighborhoods

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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

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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 84%; rating input score 84
  • 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; 64th 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: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -85.3%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.96; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.87; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 45.3%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -7.5% per year; rating input score 0; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -8% per year; rating input score 0; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -4.8% per year; rating input score 0; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 84% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $100K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $54K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 22/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 56/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 7/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.