Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor Commission Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
271273797
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2014
Location
Buffalo, NY, USA
Phone
7163221002
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Economic Development

Reported finances

Revenue
$829,474
Expenses
$824,629
Assets
$5,644,070
Liabilities
$1,666,533

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

People named in this filing

  • Lillie Wiley-Upshaw (Treasurer)
  • George Scott (Board Member)
  • Judge James McLeod (Vice Chair)

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

To identify short-term, medium-term, and long-term actions that will work to create a unified tourism destination; strengthen the Corridor's cultural assets and the surrounding neighborhood; support the sustainability of the Commission; and further develop assets to facilitate increased visitorship and additional private investment.

What it reported doing in 2025

Manages and provides an administrative support system to the historic preservation area on Buffalo's east side for the heritage corridor which is divided into four cultural anchors, The Buffalo Niagara Freedom Station Coalition's Michigan Street Baptist Church, the Colored Musicians Club and Jazz Museum Inc.'s historic Colored Musicians Club & Jazz Museum, the Michigan Street Preservation Corp's Nash House Museum, and the WUFO Black Radio History Collective's WUFO Radio Station & Black History Collective. Public education is provided by cultural tourism and development. Currently in the process of creating streamlined ticketing platform (AudienceView)for the Corridor with options and tour availability for each Anchor site Location, as well as special event ticketing as well as working with local IT Companies. Advance2000, AT Technology to create an IT network and infrastructure to support the Commission and Anchor Sites to allow for security emailing systems, file sharing and data gathering. Also, the Commission and the Anchors are working with a new Funds & Grant Development Consulting group - Core Vision Solutions to create a unified grant application process as well as identify and apply for future funding opportunities.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 64% 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

STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 52
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.5%; rating input score 87
  • Program expense ratio: 87.7%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $33.05 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 22nd 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: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 0.6%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.84; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.3; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 30.2% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 29.6% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 38% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87.5% of revenue deployed · 87.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $723K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 29 of 30 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2015 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.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 32/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 20/100.