Imagine Housing

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
943110312
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Bellevue, WA, USA
Phone
4255765190
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$12,041,245
Expenses
$10,585,009
Assets
$53,078,363
Liabilities
$34,416,082

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

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • YICHUAN ZHAO (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • YICHUAN ZHAO (PRESIDENT): $208,344 total reported compensation
  • TROY DRAWZ (VP OF REAL ESTATE DE): $159,207 total reported compensation
  • ZEE PETERS (VP OF ADVANCEMENT): $144,167 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 develop affordable housing, build welcoming communities and foster vibrant futures.

What it reported doing in 2024

Our work started over 35 years ago in response to the growing economic inequities faced by low-income households in east king county, our founders realized that permanent affordable housing was the most cost-effective, long-term solution to displacement, homelessness, and poverty in the region. Since then, our work has expanded from a volunteer run organization with 18 affordable apartments to a highly respected organization providing 639 permanent low-income apartment homes. In 2009, we implemented on-site supportive resident services to meet the growing need for additional resources to ensure household stability and self-sufficiency.imagine housing serves low-income families and seniors with affordable, service-enriched housing in the eastside communities of bellevue, redmond, issaquah, kirkland, mercer island, sammamish, and soon in bothell. One-quarter of the homes serve families and seniors comingdirectly from homelessness. We practice housing first and work to remove all barriers to housing and housing stability. Imagine housing serves over 1,400 low and very low-income individuals, including 383 children, 416 seniors and 49 veterans. 225 apartments across our portfolio are reserved for families and seniors coming from homelessness with coordinated entry for all (cea) referrals or section 8 vouchers, including housing choice, projectbased and vash. The average household income of imagine housing residents is $27,980 per year. 62% of households identify as people of color and 29% report that a member of the household is living with a disability.

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 99% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and liabilities are high compared with assets.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 64
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 72.7%; rating input score 73
  • Program expense ratio: 82.7%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.09 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 12.1%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.01; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.65; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.4%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.1% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.3% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 72.7% of revenue deployed · 82.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $8.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $208K · 19 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 12 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 18 filed related-organization links
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 38/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 20/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.