Solutions in Hometown Connections

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
821942936
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2018
Location
Greenbelt, MD, USA
Phone
3016151034
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Ethnic, Immigrant Centers

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,305,499
Expenses
$1,118,403
Assets
$853,904
Liabilities
$287,232

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Merritt Groeschel (Executive Director)
  • Kate Talbot (Co-Executive Director)
  • Farah Nageer-Kanthor (Vice President)
  • Marcie Bane (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Merritt Groeschel (Executive Director): $85,577 total reported compensation
  • Kate Talbot (Co-Executive Director): $79,808 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

SHC engages refugees and immigrants to build better communities. Family-friendly programs foster confidence and independence. A network of volunteer tutors and community groups compliment programs and provide individuals and families with personalized support.

What it reported doing in 2025

English Together: English Together is a literacy-based instructional program designed to serve parents of school-aged children in local public schools. Classes include English language learning instruction and may include either, parent engagement content to encourage and enable parents to become more involved in their childs education or community resource content which introduces parents to community, cultural and technology resources so they may become involved members of their community. Some English Together classes may also incorporate a Kindergarten Readiness component, which is designed to help parents equip their pre-school-aged children with the skills and resources needed to come to kindergarten fully ready to learn.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 68% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 45
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 72.3%; rating input score 72
  • Program expense ratio: 84.4%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: $100.77 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 14.3%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.76; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.34; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.8%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 39.7% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 35.8% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 39.2% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 72.3% of revenue deployed · 84.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $944K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $86K · 12 people listed
  • Consistency: 31 of 32 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2019 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 35/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 18/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.