Love & Cornbread

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
871370367
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023
Location
Baltimore, MD, USA
Phone
4102625404
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community Improvement, Capacity Building N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$515,738
Expenses
$476,269
Assets
$112,764
Liabilities
$4,902

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • STEVEN ALLBRIGHT (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • LAMAR DARNELL SHIELDS (PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • DARYL SMITH (SECRETARY)
  • DENNETT EDWARDS (TREASURER)
  • STEVEN ALLBRIGHT (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

Love & cornbread designs innovative, people-first solutions to baltimore's hunger problem. We subvert the broken food distribution by using donated food to create meals that are so delicious and appealing that they not only nourish people in need but help sustain the organization and its mission.

What it reported doing in 2025

We served 25,000meals to people in need in baltimore city in 2025. We focused our efforts on the neighborhoods of penn north and sandtown in west baltimore. We served delicious, healthy, high quality meals to the most vulnerable residents including children, elders, and people without housing or struggling with addiction. We distributed $15,000worth of hygiene and personal products (including socks, first aid supplies, hand sanitizer, condoms, soap, lotion, wet wipes, gloves, hats, and blankets) to residents of underserved neighborhoods in baltimore city. We also distributed 4,800units of naloxolne as part of the Maryland overdose prevention program.in addition, love & cornbread launched its social enterprise in september 2025: a chef-created bake-at-home cornbread mix sold in retail stores, online, and at pop-up events. All proceeds from the sale of the mix go to support our mission of feeding kids and people in need in baltimore city.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 84% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 66
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 71.7%; rating input score 72
  • Program expense ratio: 77.5%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: 7.7%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.24; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 131.2% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 67% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 55.9% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 71.7% of revenue deployed · 77.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $369K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 51/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 45/100.