El Centro Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
824898926
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2019
Location
New Orleans, LA, USA
Phone
5045031040
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Management & Technical Assistance

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$816,447
Expenses
$450,972
Assets
$588,065
Liabilities
$820

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Lindsey Navarro (Executive Director)
  • Lilly Fincher (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Lindsey Navarro (Executive Director): $69,664 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

El Centro's mission is to provide culturally competent financial literacy and entrepreneurial training in Spanish.

What it reported doing in 2024

Empoderate NOLA is a comprehensive program that provides a broad range of personal financial and small business coaching and services, as well as a series of monthly public workshops. Types of information and assistance include starting and registering a business, obtaining business licenses and permits, strategic planning and marketing, business accounting, accessing commercial capital, personal credit, and financial counseling for home-buying, saving, and managing debt. Additional topics include avoiding scams and reporting fraud, the importance of being banked and preparing for filing small business taxes. In 2024, El Centro hosted monthly workshops for 130 in-person and virtual participants across our monthly financial literacy and business education series, reaching a total of 6,185 FB users. Staff provided 331 technical assistance appointments throughout the year. This initiative includes other services that focus on small business startups. Our business incubator program provided 2 or more hours of monthly technical assistance for 2 tenants. These small enterprises sustained 2-6 jobs each and continue to grow. Further, we hosted monthly workshops in partnership with the Louisiana Small Business Center where attendees determined the feasibility of their business ideas, began planning the steps to registering and licensing their businesses, and learned about common entrepreneurial pitfalls. In 2024, there were 85 attendees in these specialized business startup workshops. This year we relaunched our small business summit, Cumbre Empresarial, which had a total of 124 participants and provided comprehensive programming on business growth strategies, networking opportunities, and connections to resources for Latino entrepreneurs in the region.

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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 46
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 70
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 32.6%; rating input score 33
  • Program expense ratio: 59%; rating input score 59
  • Fundraising efficiency: $29.48 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 68; 68th 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: 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 44.8%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.3; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15.4%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 23.9% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 47.6% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 44.6% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 32.6% of revenue deployed · 59% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $266K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $70K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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: Mission deployment rate scored 33/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 59/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 51/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.