Faith in Action Fund

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
454434103
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2025448411
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,227
Expenses
$455,057
Assets
$832,644
Liabilities
$128,084

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MOLLY SHACK (PRESIDENT)
  • JOHANA BENCOMO (PRESIDENT (THRU SEPT))
  • NICOLE BARNES (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (BEG DECEMBER))
  • ANDREA MARTA (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (THRU NOVEMBER))

Highest reported compensation

  • NICOLE BARNES (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (BEG DECEMBER)): $51,405 total reported compensation
  • ANDREA MARTA (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (THRU NOVEMBER)): $20,448 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Faith in action fund is dedicated to empowering communities of faith and advancing social justice. The mission of the fund is to: - empower people of faith in states and cities to organize and develop their power, holding elected officials accountable to serve the common good of their constituents. - close racial and generational gaps in voter participation. - expand access to voting by challenging restrictive laws, such as voter id requirements. - reimagine voter engagement through our innovative strategy, flipping the formula, which centers people of color, ensuring that every person has the right to vote and every vote has equal value.

What it reported doing in 2024

The organization conducts and supports activities and engages people of faith in efforts to eliminate poverty, promote civic engagement and participation and increase economic opportunity for the disadvantaged population in the united stated.faith in action fund's flipping the formula initiative advanced civic participation and equitable voter engagement among communities of color, low-income voters, and young people. Through coordinated voter registration, education, and mobilization campaigns, federations across multiple states increased turnout and reduced barriers to participation. Efforts focused on nonpartisan voter protection, outreach in underrepresented neighborhoods, and relational organizing rooted in faith communities. Faith in action fund trained and supported emerging leaders of color to serve as political strategists, campaign organizers, and civic educators. The political leads program built leadership pipelines that reflect community priorities and moral values, equipping participants to drive policy change and voter engagement strategies at local and state levels. Graduates from the program contributed to helping shape narratives and mobilize communities around justice-centered agendas. These leadership investments continue to expand representative leadership and long-term power within diverse faith networks nationwide.

Operating model

Revenue model
Investment-supported. 87% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 47% for direct work, and 53% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 93
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 14
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 65.7%; rating input score 66
  • Fundraising efficiency: $0.01 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 8; 8th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -10,665.5%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.83; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15.8%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -3.1% per year; rating input score 0; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -6.7% per year; rating input score 0; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.3% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 65.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $299K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $51K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules · includes grants
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 5 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 8/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 1/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 33/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 16/100.