Community First Fund
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 232689714
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Lancaster, PA, USA
- Phone
- 7173932351
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Housing Support
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $39,961,210
- Expenses
- $34,654,543
- Assets
- $175,119,412
- Liabilities
- $116,102,833
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
21 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DANIEL BETANCOURT (PRESIDENT &)
Highest reported compensation
- DANIEL BETANCOURT (PRESIDENT &): $428,184 total reported compensation
- JONATHAN ENCARNACION (SENIOR VP CH): $251,317 total reported compensation
- JOAN BRODHEAD (CHIEF STRAT.): $237,751 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To promote community and work-based economic development. The organization provides loans for community projects and technical assistance to housing & economic development projects that have a direct and measurable benefit to low income persons and contribute to social progress and economic development in the south central Pennsylvania region.
What it reported doing in 2024
Community first fund promotes community and economic development by providing affordable loans to entities throughout central and eastern Pennsylvania, including small businesses, developers of affordable housing, community-based organizations, women, people of color. During the year ending june 30, 2025, the organization closed 348 new loans. The organization financed 424 housing units for low and moderate income individuals. Through the organizations financing efforts, 3,312 jobs were created or retained, and 1,234,212 square feet of business real estate was developed or rehabbed. In march 2020 in response to the covid-19 pandemic, the organization shifted its focus to participation in and promotion of various grant and loan programs to businesses located in low-income communities and owned by people of color. By june 30, 2020, the organization had directly provided emergency financial relief in the form of low-interest loans to 24 businesses and had managed the program to fund 461 sba paycheck protection program loans totaling 15,784,735 through its subsidiary community first capital corp.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 46% for direct work, and 54% for grants.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some related-organization disclosures are missing and liabilities are high compared with assets.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 75
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 67
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 73.3%; rating input score 73
- Program expense ratio: 84.5%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: $25.41 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Scored; rating input score 0
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 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: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 13.3%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.05; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.66; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 6%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 16.7% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 17% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 15.4% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 73.3% of revenue deployed · 84.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $29.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $428K · 21 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $782K reported
- Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 13 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Related-party transparency scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 43/100.