Downtown Denver Islamic Center
Legal name: Masjid Al-Shuhada
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 830709281
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2023–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Denver, CO, United States
- Phone
- 720-580-2605
- Rating
- 73
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Islam
- Affiliation
- Islam
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,431,605
- Expenses
- $1,122,877
- Assets
- $612,205
- Liabilities
- $2,025
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
5 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Souad Chair (Director): $55,893 total reported compensation
- Naveed Usman (Executive Dir.): $48,840 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Downtown Denver Islamic Center is an inclusive, welcoming hub for the Islamic community in Denver, building bridges through humanitarian programs for refugees, immigrants and low-income neighbors of all faiths and backgrounds. Starting over in a new country can feel overwhelming. Families often face language barriers, transportation challenges, unfamiliar systems, housing instability, food insecurity, and difficulty accessing healthcare, education, and employment opportunities. The Downtown Denver Islamic Center’s Family Navigation Program exists to walk alongside immigrant, refugee, and low-income families as they build stable, healthy, and hopeful lives in Colorado. Our care navigators provide culturally responsive, relationship-based support that helps families move from crisis toward confidence and independence.
What it reported doing in 2025
Throughout the year, we provided crucial religious and spiritual support to the Denver Muslim community, especially immigrants and refugees. We held weekly Jummah prayers, hosted nightly iftar and community dinners, and organized large celebrations that fostered communal bonds. Additionally, our team offered informal spiritual counseling and took early steps toward developing religious and cultural education programs, helping new Americans feel a deep sense of belonging and spiritual continuity.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 82% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 63% of its reported program spending out as grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 66
- Transparency & Controls: 85
- Accountability: 69
- Sustainability: 55
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 61.9%; rating input score 62
- Program expense ratio: 78.9%; rating input score 79
- Fundraising efficiency: $13.71 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 82.6%; rating input score 83; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- 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: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 21.6%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.55; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 9.3%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 67.7% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 67.2% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 68.8% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 61.9% of revenue deployed · 78.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported · 0 of 6 affiliation controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $886K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $56K · 5 people listed
- Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 45/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 26/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 39/100.