Foundation for Free Black Thought

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
872127292
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2021–2024
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2024
Location
Carson, CA, USA
Phone
3108727373
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue
$27,257
Expenses
$15,909
Assets
$26,091

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Erec Smith (President)

People named in this filing

  • Erec Smith (President)
  • Michael Bowen (Treasurer)
  • JAKE MACKEY (Director)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

To educate and raise awareness of the diversity of african-american thought in culture, art, religion, politics, and philosophy

What it reported doing in 2024

Maintain a website and online platform for publication of african-americans to communicate thoughts, art, culture and ideas. Publication of a weekly journal and social media account to promote the journal. Maintain a compendium of black authors.

Operating model

Revenue model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent revenue detail to tell how this nonprofit funds its work.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 97% 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 total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 66
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 55.6%; rating input score 56
  • Program expense ratio: 95.3%; rating input score 95

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 41.6%; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.64; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 70.2% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 41.8% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 55.1% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 55.6% of revenue deployed · 95.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $15K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 8 of 8 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 56/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.