Grow America

Legal name: National Council for Community Development Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
136532871
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New York, NY, US
Phone
800-501-7489
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community, Neighborhood Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$31,068,119
Expenses
$34,891,766
Assets
$32,344,820
Liabilities
$18,763,900

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DANIEL MARSH III (PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • DANIEL MARSH III (PRESIDENT & CEO): $605,052 total reported compensation
  • MICHAEL GRIFFIN (FUND MANAGER): $451,794 total reported compensation
  • ADAM ENNIS (COO/ASSISTANT SECRETARY): $440,635 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Grow America invests capital to craft equitable, vibrant futures.

What it reported doing in 2024

Inform and aid communities in obtaining and utilizing governmental funds for support of local economic development: ga conducts training and provides counseling and technical assistance to disadvantaged communities for support of local economic development and community development. Annually, ga typically provides technical assistance to 100+ communities and has trained more than 85,000 community development professionals since its inception. Students are drawn from nonprofit community development corporations, community development finance institutions, federal, state and local government, community foundations and other organizations working in economic, housing and community development.(cont. On schedule o)ga social infrastructure: ga, through its affiliate ndc housing and economic development corp. (hedc), also partners with units of local government to erect and maintain public buildings, monuments, and facilities; and to promote social welfare. The underlying mission is to "lessen the burden of government. Projects include public buildings and city halls, educational and medical research facilities, student housing, parking facilities and other public infrastructure. Hedc works with nonprofit organizations, service providers and units of local government to stimulate economic development in the economically depressed neighborhoods across the nation. Working through the new markets tax credit program along with other financing tools for small businesses and nonprofits, hedc creates employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for disadvantaged groups and individuals, combats community deterioration, and eliminates slum and blight through new investment in low-income communities to rehabilitate and revitalize neighborhoods.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 56% for direct work, and 44% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 19
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 93.6%; rating input score 94
  • Program expense ratio: 83.2%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 82.5%; rating input score 82; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -12.3%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.93; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.58; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.4%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15.4% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.5% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 93.6% of revenue deployed · 83.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 11 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $29M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $605K · 18 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.8M reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 38 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 753 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 543 filed related-organization links
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 8/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 33/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.