Help Community Development Corp

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
593464941
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Maitland, FL, USA
Phone
4076284832
Rating
49
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Urban, Community Economic Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$757,883
Expenses
$634,280
Assets
$1,030,820
Liabilities
$584,610

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • RULON WASHINGTON (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • LORENZO WILLIAMS (Chairman)
  • ALVIN MOORE (Trustee)
  • RULON WASHINGTON (Vice President)

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

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

Overview

Mission

H.E.L.P. Community Development Corp. (H.E.L.P. CDC) is a HUD-approved nonprofit housing counseling agency rooted in the historic Eatonville community of Central Florida. Our mission is to achieve community wholeness and help families live prosperously through affordable housing counseling, homebuyer education, economic development, and homeownership. H.E.L.P. CDC delivers HUD-approved one-on-one counseling and group education offered in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole across five core program areas: pre- and post-purchase homebuyer education, foreclosure intervention counseling, reverse mortgage (HECM) counseling, heirs' property and estate planning education, and affordable housing development. The agency's reach varies by program: homebuyer education and counseling serve the local Orlando Metropolitan Statistical Area, foreclosure intervention is offered statewide across Florida, and reverse mortgage (HECM) counseling is provided nationally. Financial capability is woven through

What it reported doing in 2025

Linking Legacies: Heirs' Property & Estate Planning Education: H.E.L.P. CDC developed and operates Linking Legacies, a community education collaborative addressing one of the most critical and underrecognized threats to generational wealth and housing stability in low- and moderate-income communities: heirs' property. Heirs' property occurs when a homeowner dies without a will or proper estate plan, leaving title to a home unclear or legally entangled among surviving family members. This condition disproportionately affecting Black, Latino, and low-income households leaves families vulnerable to partition lawsuits, predatory investors, tax sales, and the involuntary loss of homes that have been in their families for generations. The Linking Legacies Collaborative brings together H.E.L.P. CDC and three legal partners who provide free legal assistance to program participants: the Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association, Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida, and the Economic Justice Clinic at the Florida A&M University College of Law. A distinctive feature of the program is its fellowship model: law students from partner institutions serve as Linking Legacies Fellows, gaining hands-on experience in heirs' property law and community lawyering while extending H.E.L.P. CDC's capacity to reach more families. In accordance with HUD housing counseling requirements, Linking Legacies offers both 90-minute group information sessions and individual one-on-one counseling. Topics include how heirs' property occurs, the legal risks it creates, how to clear title, the importance of wills and estate plans, and how to access free legal assistance. To date, H.E.L.P. CDC has served at least 100 households directly through Linking Legacies and extends the program's reach further through community outreach, blog content, social media, and public speaking engagements. At its core, Linking Legacies is built on a simple conviction: making a plan for your family clearing your title, writing your will, securing your legacy is one of the most profound acts of love you can show the people you care about. H.E.L.P. CDC exists to make that act of love accessible to every family, regardless of income. This program has received support from the FAMU Foundation and Linking Legacies collaborative partners.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of voting board members are independent.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 41
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 0
  • Sustainability: 59
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 32.2%; rating input score 32
  • Program expense ratio: 38.5%; rating input score 38
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2,794.05 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 99; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: 16.3%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.63; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.57; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10.4% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 32.2% of revenue deployed · 38.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 8 board members independent · 0 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $244K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 26 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2015 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 32/100.
  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 38/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 58/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 10/100.