Central Indiana Community Foundation
Legal name: The Indianapolis Foundation Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 454618430
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024, Form 990-N 2012
- Location
- Indianapolis, IN, US
- Phone
- 317-634-2423
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Community, Neighborhood Development
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $129,958,722
- Expenses
- $64,922,126
- Assets
- $475,474,756
- Liabilities
- $14,631,615
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Lorenzo Esters (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Lorenzo Esters (President): $495,239 total reported compensation
- Pamela Ross (VP COMM. LEAD. & EQUIT. INITS): $278,340 total reported compensation
- Robert A Macpherson (VP PHILANTHROPHY & DEVELOPMENT): $272,100 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We link funding and ideas with the people and organizations who turn them into lasting impact.
What it reported doing in 2024
We provide leadership to make central Indiana a better, more beautiful, more equitable community.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 75% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 92% of its reported program spending out as grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
STRONG - 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 few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 72
- Transparency & Controls: 71
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 88
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 58.3%; rating input score 58
- Program expense ratio: 92.7%; rating input score 93
- Fundraising efficiency: $78.42 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 95%; rating input score 95; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 82.7%; rating input score 83; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th 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: 50%; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.32; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.1%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 17.3% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 17.7% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 58.3% of revenue deployed · 92.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $60.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $495K · 12 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 44 of 45 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 496 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 498 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.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 58/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 53/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.