Far South Community Development Corp
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 362946248
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Chicago, IL, USA
- Phone
- 7738306275
- Rating
- 58
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Urban, Community Economic Development
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $5,074,175
- Expenses
- $3,596,934
- Assets
- $12,975,338
- Liabilities
- $7,350,871
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ABRAHAM LACY (PRESIDENT/E.D.)
Highest reported compensation
- ABRAHAM LACY (PRESIDENT/E.D.): $201,247 total reported compensation
- NIKIESHA EMERY (COO): $158,208 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Through planning and collaboration with private developers, governmental entities and other stake-holders, the Far-South Community Development Corporation (Far South CDC)strives to facilitate and foster quality retail businesses that will meet the needs of the community, new industrial uses, and new rehabilitated commercial and residential real estate developments that will create jobs and improve the quality of life for all people who live and work in its service area.
What it reported doing in 2025
Far South CDC's strives to facilitate and foster quality retail businesses that will meet the needs of the community; through planning and collaboration with private developers, governmental entities and other stake-holders, new industrial uses, and new rehabilitated commercial and residential real estate developments that will create jobs and improve the quality of life for all people who live and work in its service area.In 2022, Far South CDC started to move from business development and housing programs to redevelopment of land and abandoned properties to create affordable housing and access to affordable retail spaces for developing enterprises. The Halsted Street Mall footprint at the corner of 115th Street and Halsted has been in planning and demo for the last three (3) years with Far South CDC developing the land to include affordable housing and retail space.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 65% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- 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
MIXED - Most voting board members are independent and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 51
- Transparency & Controls: 56
- Accountability: 64
- Sustainability: 66
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 39.7%; rating input score 40
- Program expense ratio: 55.4%; rating input score 55
- Fundraising efficiency: $311.46 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 14th 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: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 77.8%; rating input score 78; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 44
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 29.1%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.61; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.57; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 10%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 13.8% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 12.7% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 39.7% of revenue deployed · 55.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 9 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $201K · 10 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $206K reported
- Consistency: 25 of 26 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 8 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 40/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 55/100.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 9 not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 14/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 33/100.