FOCUS Churches of Albany
Legal name: Focus Churches of Albany Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 300257933
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Albany, NY, United States
- Phone
- (518) 443-0460
- Rating
- 87
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Human Service Organizations
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $800,631
- Expenses
- $813,720
- Assets
- $323,846
- Liabilities
- $48,609
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
24 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Fred Boehrer (Executive Director through Oct 2024)
- Richard Becker (Interim Executive Director As of Jun 2024)
- Rev Kathy Donley (Board Member - President)
- Amy Steiner (Board Member - Financial Secretary and Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- Fred Boehrer (Executive Director through Oct 2024): $71,121 total reported compensation
- Richard Becker (Interim Executive Director As of Jun 2024): $27,212 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
FOCUS is five covenant churches, four faith affiliates, and two faith partners, doing together what we cannot do alone. United in a common calling to respond to our neighbor's needs in the city of Albany and beyond, as God's servant people, in a broken and hurting world. Volunteer with purpose, serve our community. **Our Mission** Together, we can do more. Your gift helps us feed, support, and uplift our neighbors in need. Every dollar makes a difference! DONATE. Find the programs, services, and support you need - all in one place. GET ASSISTANCE FOCUS SPOTLIGHT. FOCUS joined the Out of Darkness Walk to raise awareness, reduce isolation, and support mental health. Read more → May 2, 2026.
What it reported doing in 2024
Annually, FOCUS provides 200,000 meals to approximately 3000 households facing food insecurity. Nearly 35% of those served at the pantry are children under the age of 18, while 11% are individuals over 60. The breakfast soup kitchen provides nearly 25,000 meals and serves 11,000 guests (duplicated). Guests of the breakfast soup kitchen are primarily unhoused, with 80% being between the ages of 18-60, and 19% being over the age of 60. About 1% are under the age of 18. The program is open approximately 150 days of the year, and serves cold breakfast in the warmer months (May-September), and hot meals in the colder months (October-April). These accomplishments are only possible by the commitment and devotion of our nearly 200 regular volunteers.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 61% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 92
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 79
- Sustainability: 28
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 93.7%; rating input score 94
- Program expense ratio: 92.1%; rating input score 92
- Fundraising efficiency: $62.89 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 81; 81st 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: Limited
- 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: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -1.6%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.4; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 12.1%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 10.3% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 93.7% of revenue deployed · 92.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $749K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $71K · 24 people listed
- Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2014 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 31/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 19/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 30/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 36/100.