Equiliberty Community Impact Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
931511584
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2023
Location
Houston, TX, USA
Phone
8323180378
Rating
66
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Financial Counseling

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$322,053
Expenses
$198,887
Assets
$123,166
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Phillip Yates (President and CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Phillip Yates (President and CEO): $4,500 total reported compensation
  • Kodi Bailey (COO and CFO): $3,500 total reported compensation
  • Rachel Howard (CTO and Data Compliance Officer): $2,500 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

ECIF is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 2023 with a mission to reduce the wealth gap and increase economic mobility for small businesses and entrepreneurs from under-capitalized communities. Through our programming, we are cultivating an environment where individuals and families that reside in under-capitalized communities have access to financial literacy and entrepreneurship training, wealth building resources, innovative solutions and community-driven initiatives that foster financial inclusion and sustainable economic community growth.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025, the Equiliberty Community Impact Foundation continued to expand its mission of empowering entrepreneurs, strengthening communities, and advancing pathways to wealth-building through education, innovation, and access to opportunity. One of the organization's major accomplishments was the successful hosting of its fifth annual Black Entrepreneurs Week and fourth annual Latino Entrepreneurs Week, two flagship initiatives that bring together founders, small business owners, investors, and community leaders to celebrate entrepreneurship and provide critical resources for business growth. These programs continue to serve as powerful platforms for collaboration, education, and economic empowerment. In addition, Equiliberty launched its pilot Youth Entrepreneurship and Workforce Development Program in the Alief Independent School District, marking an important step in expanding programming for the next generation of entrepreneurs. The initiative introduced students to the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and career pathways. Across all programming in 2025, Equiliberty hosted approximately 30 events through its various flagship initiatives, welcoming more than 10,000 attendees at in-person events throughout the year. Through strategic media partnerships-including podcasts, radio, and television-the organization also extended its reach to over 1 million individuals online, amplifying its message and educational content to a broader audience. Equiliberty also continued to invest directly in entrepreneurs by hosting multiple pitch competitions, awarding more than $20,000 in grants to emerging founders and small businesses to help support their growth and development. A major milestone for the organization in 2025 was being accepted into the JPMorgan Chase Workforce Collaborative in Houston, Texas. As part of this partnership, Equiliberty received its first institutional sustainability grant, providing critical support to help scale its programs, expand its impact, and continue building long-term economic opportunity within the communities it serves. Through these efforts, 2025 represented another year of meaningful progress for Equiliberty Community Impact Foundation as it continues working to empower entrepreneurs and strengthen the economic future of communities across Houston and beyond. Below is the expense report for LEW 2025.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 65% for direct work, and 35% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 32
  • Sustainability: 61
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 58.5%; rating input score 58
  • Program expense ratio: 94.7%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: Limited
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 38.2%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.62; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.3%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 133.2% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 200% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 58.5% of revenue deployed · 94.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $188K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $4K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 58/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 29/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 30/100.