The Equity Alliance Fund

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
825090772
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Nashville, TN, USA
Phone
6152106963
Rating
66
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Civil Rights, Social Action, Advocacy N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$406,068
Expenses
$257,412
Assets
$440,217
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • THALLEN BRASSEL (PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • THALLEN BRASSEL (PRESIDENT)
  • BRENDA GADD (TREASURER)
  • TEQUILA JOHNSON (EXEC DIRECTO)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Teaf encourages black voters to support policies and candidates who will invest in overlooked and underserved communities of color.

What it reported doing in 2024

In 2024, tea achieved victories across its electoral and organizing efforts, through a combination of volunteer and paid teammates. Our endorsed candidates won key races in shelby county school board district 2 and state house district 67, and we helped secure a win for the nashville transit referendum. We also exceeded our canvassing goals in multiple races, surpassing gotv phase targets in the nashville transit campaign as well as state house districts 67, 75, and 97, and beating candidate id phase goals in house districts 49 and 97. In addition, we exceeded our phone banking goals in every race where we competed. To support this growth, tea developed new how-to guides and standard operating procedures, improving onboarding for staff and volunteers and strengthening the use of van across our campaigns.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% 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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 12
  • Sustainability: 74
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 63.2%; rating input score 63
  • Program expense ratio: 99.7%; rating input score 100
  • 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: 0%; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 36.6%; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.71; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 102.8% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 152.6% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 40.6% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 63.2% of revenue deployed · 99.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 4 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $257K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 17 of 17 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 55/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.