Community of Unity Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
134163157
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2020
Forms available
Form 990 2020, Form 990-EZ 2010
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
6464088117
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Arts Education

Reported finances

Revenue
$321,829
Expenses
$348,120
Assets
$31,085
Liabilities
$109,244

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

People named in this filing

  • CHRISTOPHER OLIVER (CHAIRMAN)
  • CLIFFORD COHEN (DIRECTOR)
  • MICHELLE PRIANO (DIRECTOR)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Community of unity, inc. Is dedicated to providing children with the tools they need to awaken their own unique potential.

What it reported doing in 2020

Community of unity supports the development of communities where individuals are empowered to make good choices. Our innovative approach to youth development is the foundation of a broad range of programming delivered in different environments and through different means to support youth in the way they need it. The yelc a gender-specific in and after-school program where youth experience personal growth and identity development through the power of sharing with peers, building community and engaging in behaviors that lead to success in school and beyond. 100% of our yelc students have graduated from high school, despite graduation rates in those communities hovering between 60% and 70%. Our design your future college guidance centers offer one-on-one and group support to in school communities of juniors and seniors and two nyc high schools - the theatre arts production company school (tapco) and new design high school (ndhs). Through this program 98% of graduating seniors apply to college and 100% of those that apply are accepted into at least one school. In 2018 community of unity made a strategic programmatic shift from running multiple facilitation/advocacy/mentorship (fam) groups in three schools across manhattan and the bronx, to focusing all of our staffing and resources into one school community. After moving our offices into new design high school, we were able to deepen our relationship with the school's administrative team, increase the amount of time spent with each fam student, and expand the number of community-wide events offered to program participants.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 90% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 21
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80.7%; rating input score 81
  • Program expense ratio: 74.6%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.82 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings

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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -8.2%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.09; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 3.51; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1.4% per year; rating input score 0; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -2.9% per year; rating input score 0; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80.7% of revenue deployed · 74.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $260K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2011 to 2020
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 38/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 1/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.