Houston Freedmen's Town Conservancy Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 832421452
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020, Form 990-N 2019
- Location
- Houston, TX, USA
- Phone
- 7133664212
- Rating
- 68
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Alliance/Advocacy
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $821,797
- Expenses
- $390,687
- Assets
- $1,367,317
- Liabilities
- $19,604
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
15 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Eileen Lawal (President)
- Harry Johnson (Vice President)
- Sharon Fletcher (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Sharon Fletcher (Executive Director): $79,547 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To completely restore Houston Freedmen's Town as a heritage district that provides America with its only Freedmen's Town.
What it reported doing in 2024
The Conservancy's initiatives seek to address the following community priorities.Historic Preservation & Building a Resilient Community - This initiative works with community and civic partners to prevent the demolition of historic structures, advocates for policy changes and ordinances, and includes district-level planning efforts, capital improvements, historically respectful development, and the operations and maintenance of Houston's first Heritage District.See Schedule O.Heritage Engaging Experiences - This initiative organizes and implements programs, events, and activities that promote the Story of Freedom from the forthcoming community resource hub, the Freedmen's Town Visitors Center. Tours of the Heritage District are available, and planning is underway for historic markers, wayfinding, signage, and digital tools to engage both visitors and locals.Education & Citizen Empowerment - With this initiative, the Conservancy effectively empowers the community to participate in political/decision-making processes. Similarly, the Conservancy educates all external stakeholders on how to partner with the community to achieve equitable outcomes. The Conservancy's initiatives seek to address the following community priorities.Organizational Growth & Effectiveness - With this initiative, the Conservancy enhances its internal capacity, achieves operational sustainability, and becomes financially stable. Increased organizational capacity will enable the Conservancy to engage in educational and cultural programming, expand public outreach, and economically empower residents of Freedmen's Town. Sustainable funding requires a robust and sustainable operational partner within the Heritage District to ensure economic growth for Freedmen's Town.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 99% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 35
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 76
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 24.1%; rating input score 24
- Program expense ratio: 50.5%; rating input score 50
- Fundraising efficiency: $12.67 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 45; 45th 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- 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: 52.5%; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.5; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 20.4%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 16.9% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 28.6% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 36.5% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 24.1% of revenue deployed · 50.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $197K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $80K · 15 people listed
- Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 24/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 50/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 45/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.