Southeast Center for Cooperative Development

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
824969715
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022, Form 990-N 2020
Location
Nashville, TN, USA
Phone
6153151549
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Reported finances

Revenue
$251,729
Expenses
$414,976
Assets
$279,020
Liabilities
$58,281

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Rosemarie Henkel-Rieger (Executive Co-director): $78,000 total reported compensation
  • Robert Overton (Executive Co-director): $78,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Our primary purpose is to help build a more equitable economy by increasing the economic opportunities and benefits available to the excluded through the development of wealth-building cooperatives which are owned and controlled by the low-income minority and or underserved communities in Metro Nashville in Tennessee and in the Southeastern U.S. We give priority to developing the power and capacity of the marginalized.

What it reported doing in 2025

Academy: Cooperative business development education and training. Introduction: Outreach services to introduce cooperative business concepts and models. Technical Assistance & Accelerator: Technical services and in-depth education and training on business development activities and tasks. Resources: Providing clients with resources to support business development and operational competencies. Provided Technical Assistance and Board training for housing cooperative development limited equity cooperative and community land trust establishment.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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 - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Accountability: 52
  • Sustainability: 13
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 92%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 71.4%; rating input score 71; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -64.9%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.67; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.21; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 36%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17.5% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 26.1% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 27.1% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 92% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 7 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $382K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $78K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 43 of 43 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 16/100.