Pathway Lending

Legal name: Southeast Community Capital Corporation D/b/a Pathway Lending

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
621823596
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2022
Location
Nashville, TN, US
Phone
(615) 425-7171
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Employment Procurement Assistance

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$65,102,054
Expenses
$29,767,322
Assets
$368,094,372
Liabilities
$271,186,903

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

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CLINT GWIN (PRESIDENT AND CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • CLINT GWIN (PRESIDENT AND CEO): $577,786 total reported compensation
  • BARBARA HARRIS (EVP AND CFO (END 6/24)): $427,886 total reported compensation
  • AMY BUNTON (EVP AND COO): $409,800 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To provide mission-driven capital and support to small businesses, affordable housing, and sustainability initiatives, fostering economic growth and opportunity in underserved communities.

What it reported doing in 2024

Lending program: as a community development financial institution (cdfi) certified by the u.s. Department of the treasury, southeast community capital dba pathway lending provides financing for affordable multifamily housing and loans to qualified small and disadvantaged businesses through various government and non-profit lending programs, including: u.s. Small business administration (sba), u.s. Treasury department certified community development financial institution (cdfi), the appalachian regional commission (arc), the Tennessee rural opportunity fund, the Tennessee energy efficiency loan program, the Tennessee small business job opportunity fund and the Alabama small business job opportunity fund, etc. We focus our activities on underserved target markets that include businesses located in qualified investment areas (as defined by low-income census tracts, poverty rates, and unemployment statistics), and african american owned businesses. Our service area includes Tennessee and Alabama, as well as portions of Mississippi, Arkansas, and Kentucky.southeast community capital corporation made 147 loans and lines of credit totaling more than $16.7mm to support the creation, preservation, and growth of small businesses in 2024. The organization also supported commercial real estate, affordable housing and mixed-use real estate initiatives by making 21 loans totaling over $17.3mm to support the acquisition, development, and rehabilitation of commercial real estate, 9 loans totaling over $16.1mm to support affordable multifamily rental housing, and 3 loans totaling over $1.3mm to support mixed-use developments in the memphis medical district, which resulted in the creation and preservation of approximately 162 rental units. Southeast community capital corporation also offers climate-centered loans. In 2024, it made 26 loans totaling approximately $8.8mm to support the implementation of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects at businesses across Tennessee. Total annual energy savings from the energy loans were $364,982 with 3,406,854 kwh generated through renewable sources or saved through efficiency efforts.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 61% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 76% for direct work, and 24% for grants.

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: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 78
  • Sustainability: 76
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 49%; rating input score 49
  • Program expense ratio: 94.6%; rating input score 95
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2,194.18 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • 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; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 71.4%; rating input score 71; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 54.3%; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 12.37; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.74; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13.1%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 16.9% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15.6% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13.8% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 6 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 49% of revenue deployed · 94.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 7 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $28.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $578K · 23 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $743K reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 16 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 5 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 49/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Document-retention policy not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 2/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 20/100.