The Black Belt Community Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
631270745
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Selma, AL, USA
Phone
3348741126
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community Foundations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$11,452,438
Expenses
$14,023,321
Assets
$26,271,694
Liabilities
$747,429

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

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • FELECIA LUCKY (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • FELECIA LUCKY (PRESIDENT): $352,947 total reported compensation
  • SERENA CHEN LOW (CHIEF OF STAFF): $123,216 total reported compensation
  • CHRISTOPHER H SPENCER (CHIEF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT OFFICER): $120,550 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 ensure all black belt residents live and work in healthy, prosperous, inclusive, educated, creative and giving communities. We serve twelve counties: bullock, choctaw, dallas, greene, hale, lowndes, macon, marengo, perry, pickens, sumter, and wilcox. Each of these counties is considered a "persistent poverty county" as identified through the census. Persistent poverty counties are those where 20% or more of the county residents were poor, measured by the 1980, 1990, 2000 censuses, and the 200-11 american community survey. Additionally, bbcf oftentimes invests in the following 13 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

What it reported doing in 2024

Promoting & sustaining education: the foundation operates a head start program, a comprehensive child development program for low income families and children, ages 3 to 5, in the following counties of the black belt: dallas county, choctaw county, marengo county and wilcox county. The bbcf head start program ensures children and families are prepared and ready for kindergarten. Head start engages parents and family members in positive relationships, with a focus on family well-being to promote children's growth in a positive learning environment through a variety of services which includes early learning and development, health and nutrition, and family wellbeing. Additionally, the foundation's reach in communities has made it a leading partner with institutions of higher education. These partnerships allow a continuum of care for children ages 3 through the 1st year of college, including support for high school students enrolled in workforce and professional development courses

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 79% for direct work, and 21% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 94.8%; rating input score 95
  • Program expense ratio: 77.1%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $126.88 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 20th 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: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 67.3%; rating input score 67; 14th 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: -22.4%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.87; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.3%; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 21.2% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 23.4% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 24.8% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 94.8% of revenue deployed · 77.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $10.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $353K · 20 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $700K reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 38 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 48 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 45 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.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 4/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 59/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 57/100.