Main Street Launch
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 942548556
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Oakland, CA, USA
- Phone
- 5107634297
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Small Business Development
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $6,730,392
- Expenses
- $5,798,080
- Assets
- $26,128,268
- Liabilities
- $14,751,012
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
17 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Rohan Kalbag (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- Joyce Windross (EVP Operations): $306,537 total reported compensation
- Rohan Kalbag (CEO): $276,102 total reported compensation
- Jen Verne (CDO): $271,843 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Our mission is to create economic opportunity by empowering entrepreneurs.Through innovative partnerships we provide business owners with capital, education, and relationships that allow them to flourish. Our collaborative approach helps our clients create jobs and stimulates economic development in low-to-moderate income communities.
What it reported doing in 2024
PROGRAM ACCOMPLISHMENTIn the last 10 years, Main Street Launch has made loans totaling $95 million tomore than 1,200 businesses, creating and sustaining over 5,800 jobs. These loanssupported 47% women-owned businesses, 28% new businesses, 40% businesses in low to moderate income (LMI) areas, and 68% of borrowers were LMI entrepreneurs. Main Street Launch provides lending services across the entire state of California, with a particular focus on Oakland and San Francisco.During FY25, Main Street Launch provided technical assistance to 600 entrepreneursand loaned $9 million to 57 California small businesses, including 18 businessesin San Francisco and 12 in Oakland. These businesses created and sustained over 300jobs. Main Street Launchs technical assistance and lending activity has resulted injob creation and income for residents in LMI communities, increased wealth forunderserved entrepreneurs, and increased economic activity in LMI communities. Thisleads to improved community vitality as a result of decreasing retail leakage, blight, and the number of empty storefronts, increasing tax revenue of city servicesand residents access to goods and services.In 2025 Main Street Launch started a new program in San Francisco to support businesses filling vacant storefronts in Downtown San Francisco. The program is a public-private partnership funded by the City of San Francisco and several private bank and foundation funders. The program provides grant and low cost/flexible debt capital to small businesses filling vacant storefronts.
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 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. Some filed totals do not add up and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 69
- Transparency & Controls: 66
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 60
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 72.8%; rating input score 73
- Program expense ratio: 83.9%; rating input score 84
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- 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: 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: 13.9%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.51; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.56; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 22.1%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.8% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 72.8% of revenue deployed · 83.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $4.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $307K · 17 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $273K reported
- Consistency: 25 of 26 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 13 filed money-flow records
- 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 — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 18/100.