Commonwise Education Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
452201993
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Bronx, NY, USA
Phone
7183040041
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Small Business Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$314,772
Expenses
$625,235
Assets
$479,655
Liabilities
$294,107

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SANDRA LOBO (President)
  • DARIELLA RODRIGUEZ (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • SIDDHARTHA SANCHEZ (Executive Dir.): $30,769 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The organization coordinates the people, businesses and institutions of the bronx to develop shared wealth and ownership and supports low income people of color in the decision making process at every step. This network of stakeholders, is known as the bronx cooperative development initiative (bcdi). Based on a framework of economic democracy, bcdi leverages existing bronx assets to address economic, social, and environmental challenges within the borough, and supports collective ownership models in order to distribute wealth and decision-making equitably and broadly among bronx residents.

What it reported doing in 2024

In 2024 BCDI core work was supporting the advancement of a Bronxwide economic development plan grounded in our values of economic democracy and racial justice. In 2024 our coalition moved from planning to our first year of advocacy for implementation of our priority projects. BCDI supported the development of the Sustainable Economy Partnership (SEP). The SEP is a multi-million dollar borough-wide initiative to advance environmental resilience, small business, and workforce development in connection with necessary retrofits of our aging and neglected built environment. We also continued to work on securing the future of our planning work by initiating a partnership with the Bronx Economic Development Corporation (BXEDC) to pursue a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) grant from the Federal Economic Development Administration. Our successful application for this two year grant allows us to broaden our reach and validate our years of community-led work by having the first Bronxwide economic development plan arise from our multi-year efforts. In 2024, the BronXchange continued the work as a network and service platform that leverages Bronx institutional buying power to build shared wealth. We connected worker cooperatives and other high-road local businesses to new market opportunities and resources, advancing equitable and sustainable procurement across the borough. We continued our services to include front- and back-office services such as marketing, bookkeeping, strategic planning, and web support helping small businesses strengthen operations and adopt equitable practices. By redirecting institutional purchasing and providing targeted technical and financial assistance, we helped scale the impact of worker cooperatives. We also supported ten Bronx-based small business owners in preparing for contracts and capital opportunities through customized research, marketing consulting, and compliance assistance positioning them for long-term growth and impact.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 16
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.1%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 42.8%; rating input score 43
  • Fundraising efficiency: $33.61 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 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: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -98.6%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.77; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.61; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.9%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.7% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.1% of revenue deployed · 42.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $267K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $31K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 43/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 9/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 33/100.