National Equity Fund

Legal name: National Equity Fund Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
363490231
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Chicago, IL, United States
Phone
(312) 360-0400
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$85,480,265
Expenses
$93,522,251
Assets
$122,158,786
Liabilities
$87,044,075

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

Leadership & pay

32 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MATTHEW REILEIN (PRESIDENT & CEO (AND DIRECTOR))

Highest reported compensation

  • MATTHEW REILEIN (PRESIDENT & CEO (AND DIRECTOR)): $1,557,831 total reported compensation
  • TODD FABIAN (MANAGING DIRECTOR - WEST REGION): $1,244,046 total reported compensation
  • KRISTEN SENFF (MANAGING DIRECTOR - CENTRAL REGION): $1,088,216 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

National Equity Fund’s mission is to create and deliver innovative, collaborative financial solutions to expand the creation and preservation of affordable housing. We envision a society where increased access to affordable housing empowers every individual and family to reach their full potential. Beyond LIHTC, NEF offers additional financial solutions to help close the affordable housing gap in multiple ways that are aligned with our mission. Our expertise in pre-development, preservation, and workforce lending allows us to further assist our partners to expand their efforts to provide low-income and middle-income affordable housing. Since being founded in 1987, NEF has invested **nearly $30 billion** , representing approximately **275,000** new or preserved affordable homes for individuals, families, and communities in need across the country. NEF is Chicago-based and has donated...

What it reported doing in 2024

Nef, inc serves as the general partner or managing member of investor limited partnerships and limited liability companies that acquire limited partner or non-managing member interests in project partnerships or project limited liability companies that acquire, own, construct, rehabilitate and operate low-income housing projects. In addition, nef, inc. Provides and facilitates various grants, financing, technical assistance, and asset management services to support such investments in low-income housing projects.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 96% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 79% for direct work, and 21% 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: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 91
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 21
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 93.4%; rating input score 93
  • Program expense ratio: 87.6%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.8%; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 72.2%; rating input score 72; 22nd 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: -9.4%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.31; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.71; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.3%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 93.4% of revenue deployed · 87.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 18 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $82M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $1.6M · 32 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $10M reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 29 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 351 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.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 8/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.