Nashville Community Bail Fund

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
820976867
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Nashville, TN, USA
Phone
6154551875
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and Fund Distribution

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$94,998
Expenses
$227,471
Assets
$976,421
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • CYRUS WILSON (Executive Dir.): $99,357 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To free low-income individuals from jail, connect with their loved ones, and work to end wealth-based detention through community partnerships.

What it reported doing in 2025

Successfully served 367 participants with resources for bail (approximately 30 per month), contributing to a total of 3,220 people assisted since our founding in 2010. Additionally, we successfully defeated house bills 0123, 2630, and 2679 in this year's legislative session, preventing a legal ban that would have made it illegal for the nashville davidson county clerk to process payments from nonprofits and other resource providers for impoverished people.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% 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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 5
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 78.8%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.33 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings

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: 0%; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -139.4%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.29; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 43.7%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -17% per year; rating input score 0; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 78.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 7 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $179K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $99K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2018 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 35/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 50/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.