Race Forward Action Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
920898880
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2022
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2125137925
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy

Reported finances

Revenue
$408,044
Expenses
$619,187
Assets
$320,181
Liabilities
$97,156

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • GLENN HARRIS (SECRETARY): $326,762 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Race forward action will defend and advance a just, multiracial democracy by cultivating the advocacy and electoral power of people of color to catalyze a movement for racial justice.

What it reported doing in 2024

Race forward action (rfa) envisions a nation that continually strives to create, realize, and refine a just multiracial democracy in which people of color thrive with power and purpose. Race forward action will defend and advance a just, multiracial democracy by cultivating the advocacy and electoral power of people of color to catalyze a movement for racial justice. Race forward action plans to achieve this by designing and implementing various multi-issue campaigns at the local and national level. It will deploy resources in the form of technical assistance and funding to partner organizations who align with the mission and vision of race forward action. Since its formation in october '22, rfa has been making strategic investments and decisions to set-up the conditions to advance rfa's vision and mission through its flagship program, heal to win. Heal to win will implement campaigns in key states to unite communities around a vision for strong, multiracial public education and a thriving future. By focusing on robust civic education and voter engagement that starts at the school board level, heal to win promotes a shared sense of purpose and highlights how an equitable public education serves as a cornerstone for inclusive democracy.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 75% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 87% 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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 78
  • Sustainability: 15
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 76.7%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.07 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -51.7%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.52; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.3; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.7%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 166.6% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -21.4% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -45.1% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 76.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $475K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $327K · 6 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 20 of 20 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 3 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.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 14/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 25/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 16/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 32/100.