Project Equity

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
862938689
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Oakland, CA, USA
Phone
5103806300
Rating
65
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Economic Development

Reported finances

Revenue
$8,254,336
Expenses
$1,901,872
Assets
$15,756,924
Liabilities
$6,139,344

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • EVAN EDWARDS (PRESIDENT CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • EVAN EDWARDS (PRESIDENT CEO): $73,237 total reported compensation
  • JASON EBY (SECRETARY COS): $33,512 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Project equity is a national leader in the movement to harness employee ownership to maintain thriving local business communities, honor selling owners legacies, and address income and wealth inequality.

What it reported doing in 2024

Project equity works with partners around the country to raise awareness about employee ownership as an exit startegy for business owners, and as an important approach for increasing employee enagagement and well being. We also provide hands on consulting, support and financing to companies that want to transition to employee ownership, as well as, to the new employee-owners to ensure they and their business thrive after transition.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 95% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 47
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 57
  • Sustainability: 81
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 20.6%; rating input score 21
  • Program expense ratio: 80.7%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $37.81 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 13th 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: Scored; rating input score 0

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 44
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 77%; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 8.28; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.39; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.6%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 105% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 68.8% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 62.1% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 20.6% of revenue deployed · 80.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $73K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 26 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and related organizations
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 21/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Related-party transparency scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 27/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 49/100.