The Nashville Entrepreneur Center
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 271230916
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Nashville, TN, USA
- Phone
- 6158731257
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,974,673
- Expenses
- $3,593,156
- Assets
- $4,387,433
- Liabilities
- $136,882
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
31 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- SAMUEL DAVIDSON (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- SAMUEL DAVIDSON (CEO): $244,392 total reported compensation
- DONNA MATTICK (CHIEF STRATEGIC ALLIANCE O): $177,688 total reported compensation
- ANGELA MAY (SVP MARKETING & COMMUNICAT): $172,613 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The nashville entrepreneur center exists to help make nashville the best place to start and grow a business by increasing the likelihood of success for entrepreneurs.
What it reported doing in 2024
Front door to entrepreneurship: the nec serves as a guide to nashville's entrepreneurs by connecting them with the resources necessary to support their business across the entrepreneural ecosystem. In addition, the nec offers direct support to founders through membership, an advisor program, and immersive experiences to support growth-minded entrepreneurs at all stages of business and in any industry.entrepreneural support includes structured education and mentorship, stakeholder (potential customers, partners and founders) connections and engagement, co-working space, membership, networking events, educational workshops, impressive industry programs (such as music and healthcare), and industry agnostic programs.
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
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 83
- Transparency & Controls: 66
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 26
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 96.6%; rating input score 97
- Program expense ratio: 79.9%; rating input score 80
- Fundraising efficiency: $5.86 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: -20.8%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.22; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 24.4%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.7% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 96.6% of revenue deployed · 79.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 26 of 26 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $244K · 31 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $108K reported
- Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 21/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Document-retention policy not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 44/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.