Equity Now Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
822008232
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Lanham, MD, USA
Phone
7167919139
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Charter Schools

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$14,438,382
Expenses
$13,755,725
Assets
$30,581,127
Liabilities
$27,438,923

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

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SHOMARI A JAMES (CEO - EQUITY)
  • ATASHA JAMES (CEO-LCS)

Highest reported compensation

  • SHOMARI A JAMES (CEO - EQUITY): $195,827 total reported compensation
  • ATASHA JAMES (CEO-LCS): $193,839 total reported compensation
  • ANTOINE WILLIAMS (DIRECTOR - O): $156,163 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Equity now's mission is to discover, plan and implement innovative solutions for pathways of building equity. Focusing on financial education, improving k-12 education, social-emotional learning & academic development, and agriculture & sustainability education. Legends charter school was founded to create a partnership with students, parents and the prince georges county community. Legends charter school provides an advanced liberal arts college preparatory education, incorporating financial education that is supplemented with blended learning to personalize scholars learning experience and establish robust financial portfolios.

What it reported doing in 2024

Equity now is committed to prince georges county, the residents, and the students, and desires to strengthen the relationship with the community by offering an academic choice that is rigorous and integral to the growth of our educational landscape. Equity now aims to provide education to disrupt the current patterns of discrimination, marginalization, and underrepresentation as civic leaders.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 95% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 51
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.8%; rating input score 86
  • Program expense ratio: 92.4%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.2 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • 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: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 4.7%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.22; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.9; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.3%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 40.1% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 40.4% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 26.7% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.8% of revenue deployed · 92.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $12.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $196K · 14 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2018 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 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: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 12/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Related-party transparency scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 53/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 10/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 48/100.