Commonwealth Kitchen Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
270648497
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Dorchester, MA, USA
Phone
6175227900
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Small Business Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$7,776,871
Expenses
$7,496,312
Assets
$14,611,737
Liabilities
$7,163,933

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JENNIFER FAIGEL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • JENNIFER FAIGEL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $219,687 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Cwk's mission is to build a new food economy grounded in racial, social and economic justice by strengthening the capacity, connections, and collective power of diverse entrepreneurs to start and grow successful food businesses. To accomplish this mission, cwk operates greater boston's only nonprofit food business development center and food manufacturing social enterprise.

What it reported doing in 2024

Ready to launch: with so many people starting informal food businesses over the past year, and now looking for support, we're currently adapting our start-up programming into a new 16-week start-up program, an extension of our signature food biz 101, intended for businesses that are about to launch in cwk's shared kitchens. The expanded program covers all of the basics - from permits to how to create invoices, to financial management and pricing. Ready to launch will ensure a strong start to new businesses that launch at commonwealth kitchen.network support: when state and federal money became available, commonwealth kitchen jumped into action, spreading the word about resources and hosting numerous webinars in collaboration with usc and others to give entrepreneurs access to the answers they need to take advantage of resources available. We also launched a food business listserv, providing advice and peer networking for 200+ businesses. Restaurant resiliency: this program will provide a network of deep support to small restaurants across the region through a facebook group. Despite the enormous challenges of 2020, cwk was able to support our vital, baseline business education and training programming, which has become all the more critical given the current economic realities. Cwk provided a range of business support services, including hosting webinars and providing 1-on-1 support services to more than 100 businesses. We provided direct assistance to over 50 businesses applying for various grants and loans, helping secure more than $2m to support their recovery efforts. We raised and invested another $1m+ through our commontable emergency food efforts to pay our hard-hit food business community to feed their neighbors in need. As part of the program, we provided 25+ businesses with training on bulk food production and proper cooling and transportation techniques, and staff training for contactless delivery.

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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.2%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 81.9%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.09 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 3.6%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.95; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.49; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.9%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 18.4% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 14.7% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 22.7% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 79.2% of revenue deployed · 81.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $6.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $220K · 6 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $839K reported
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2012 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 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 41/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 46/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.