Somerville Community Land Trust Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
834461699
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Somerville, MA, USA
Phone
8577565104
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Homeowners & Tenants Associations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$540,843
Expenses
$359,829
Assets
$3,789,869
Liabilities
$3,749,141

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BENJAMIN BALDWIN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • KELLY BAKER (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • BENJAMIN BALDWIN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $93,727 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Sclt promotes neighborhood stability and engagement through the creation & preservation of permanently affordable housing by offering deeply subsidized homeownership opportunities to low-income residents.

What it reported doing in 2024

Sclt promotes neighborhood stability and engagement through the creation & preservation of permanently affordable housing by offering deeply subsidized homeownership opportunities to low-income residents. Additionally, sclt works to develop innovative methods to increase homeownership, and empowers low- and moderate-income people along with those who share its vision of community control of land by fostering stewardship of perpetually affordable homeownership and rental housing and providing supportive services.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 78% 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

STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. 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: 65
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 69
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 55.3%; rating input score 55
  • Program expense ratio: 83.1%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $25.49 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • 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: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 33.5%; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 10.53; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.99; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 26%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.7% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 46.7% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.9% per year; rating input score 0; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 55.3% of revenue deployed · 83.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment
  • Leadership: top reported pay $94K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 55/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 6/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.