Redf Impact Investing Fund

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
842301234
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone
4155616677
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Chambers of Commerce & Business Leagues

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,797,305
Expenses
$984,190
Assets
$15,421,001
Liabilities
$11,865,002

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CARRIE MCKELLOGG (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • CARRIE MCKELLOGG (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $312,652 total reported compensation
  • PETER LIPPMAN (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $256,703 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Redf impact investing fund (riif) invests in and provides capacity building expertise to employment social enterprises (eses)--businesses that seek financial results and create jobs, stability and economic mobility for people overcoming the toughest barriers to employment, often including histories of homelessness, incarceration, substance use, domestic violence, human trafficking, or long-term disconnection from work.

What it reported doing in 2024

Riif provides both flexible capital and capacity building expertise to help employment-focused businesses grow, strengthen operations, and attract follow-on investment. It underwrites based on cash flow reliability, contract-backed revenue, and management capacity--providing a practical path to capital access for businesses that may not meet traditional credit standards due to limited collateral, thin credit histories, or irregular cash flows. Capacity building expertise is delivered in partnership with our granting affiliate redf, leveraging more than 25 years of experience working with employment social enterprises (eses) across sectors and growth stages.riif employs a comprehensive and disciplined risk management approach to protect its portfolio while meeting the capital needs of its borrowers. Riif actively uses collateralization strategies, state-sponsored guarantee programs (such as those supported by the state small business credit initiative), and loan participations to share and diversify exposure. Credit decisions are governed by a formal risk rating system, and riif is steadily building loan loss reserves in line with current expected credit loss (cecl) principles to ensure loss absorption capacity and financial position strength.riif is certified as a community development financial institution (cdfi) by the u.s. Department of the treasury, a designation that affirms its commitment to expanding access to capital for small and midsize businesses outside traditional financial channels. Cdfi certification enhances riif's visibility and credibility with key capital providers in the private sector, including financial institutions incentivized by the community reinvestment act (cra).

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 75% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 97% 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 total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. 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: 62
  • Transparency & Controls: 80
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 72
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 53.8%; rating input score 54
  • Program expense ratio: 94.6%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 45.2%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 15.67; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.77; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 57.9%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 35.3% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 18% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 33.4% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 53.8% of revenue deployed · 94.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $931K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $313K · 7 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 18 of 19 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

Key Signals

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

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 54/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 9/100.