Family Housing Fund

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
411380923
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Saint Paul, MN, USA
Phone
6123759644
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Housing Development, Construction, Management

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,714,023
Expenses
$4,927,773
Assets
$50,712,112
Liabilities
$1,797,180

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

Leadership & pay

29 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CRAIG KLAUSING (VICE PRESIDENT/TREASURER)
  • KASEY KIER (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • AARICA COLEMAN (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • ELENA GAARDER (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • ELLEN K SAHLI (PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • ELLEN K SAHLI (PRESIDENT & CEO): $296,445 total reported compensation
  • FUMIKO SALONE (DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS): $224,047 total reported compensation
  • ANDREA INOUYE (PROGRAM DIRECTOR): $182,484 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The family housing fund ("fund") is a nonprofit intermediary organization whose mission is to help the affordable housing network adapt to the needs of families in complex and constantly changing conditions.

What it reported doing in 2025

Building equity - the fund supports strategies that expand access to homeownership for black, indigenous, and people of color communities and help reduce racial wealth disparities. Building on the learnings from our small multifamily ownership work, the fund further developed our valuing homes in black communities initiative (building equity next generation) in 2024. This was a holistic effort to transform the homeownership journey for black communities and address wide-ranging challenges affecting black communities' ability to build and sustain wealth through homeownership. Synthesizing the learnings from our engagement and co-design process, we developed three core strategies focused on supporting black homeownership. The fund published these recommendations in a report and sought to align our work with complementary efforts in the twin cities. In 2024, the fund invested in the advancing black homeownership community fund, a special purpose credit down payment assistance program led by the Minnesota home ownership center and twin cities habitat for humanity which is also piloting a post-purchase support strategy. Our investment supported access to capital post-purchase for new homeowners as well as the development of post-purchase curriculum and coaching.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 79% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 66% for direct work, and 34% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Revenue has declined or grown slowly and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 69
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 44
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80.6%; rating input score 81
  • Program expense ratio: 74.8%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $18.5 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 81.3%; rating input score 81; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • 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: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -4.5%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 10.29; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 17.2%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.8% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -2.7% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80.6% of revenue deployed · 74.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 23 of 23 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $3.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $296K · 29 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $339K reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 35 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 16 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 12 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 16/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 56/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: CEO compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.