Foundation for Black Entrepreneurship

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
825188795
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2021
Forms available
Form 990 2021, Form 990-EZ 2019, Form 990-N 2018
Location
Denver, CO, USA
Phone
7204705234
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Economic Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,255,984
Expenses
$1,165,437
Assets
$394,455
Liabilities
$90,606

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2021. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Makisha Boothe (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Makisha Boothe (CEO): $81,166 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2021. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

We provide high touch services and business development programming for Black Women Entrepreneurs. These activities will help close the equity gap in entrepreneurship for female business owners.

What it reported doing in 2021

In 2021, our programs directly supported over 500 Black women entrepreneurs through training, coaching sessions, consultations, and back-office business technical services, with 22% of our participants returning to participate in more than one program. Although SGN is comprised 100% of Black women, we served a diverse group. Participants varied in age, household size, annual income, and industry. While our participant age group ranged from 20 to 55+ years old, over 40% of our participants were in their mid-40s with an average annual household of $50,000 - $100,000. To further the mission and goals of our organization, several new partnerships were secured in 2021. These strategic partnerships led to increases in program delivery and the number of Black women served, as well over $237,500 in new funding. Examples of new partners include Xfinity/Comcast, Xcel Energy, Southwest Airlines, Amazon, and Kaiser Permanente, to name just a few. Through highly-vetted business professionals, the SGN provided 130 free coaching sessions to assist Black women-owned businesses with the creation of strategic marketing plans, budgetary goals, and product design. In alignment with the trends of the digital age, 2021 saw our digital footprint increase tremendously. Having positioned ourselves as a credible resource in the arena of ecommerce, digital marketing, and web services, in 2021 we reached 14,857 followers on social media, which was a 25% increase over 2020. We also achieved 210,723 unique web page views, which was a 12% increase over 2020.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 72% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 93% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 50
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84.1%; rating input score 84
  • Program expense ratio: 90.6%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: $77.37 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 82; 82nd 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; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 7.2%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.34; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 82% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 72.8% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 89.5% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 84.1% of revenue deployed · 90.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 0 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $81K · 7 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $557K reported
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2020 to 2021
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 7 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 43/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 30/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 48/100.