The New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
851850139
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Roxbury, MA, USA
Phone
6178802234
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Intergroup, Race Relations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,815,124
Expenses
$8,170,623
Assets
$14,361,088
Liabilities
$820,448

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

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MAKEEBA MCCREARY (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • MAKEEBA MCCREARY (PRESIDENT): $422,638 total reported compensation
  • NADIA HARDEN (CHIEF OF STAFF): $155,075 total reported compensation
  • ZACHARY RICH (CHIEF OF PROGRAM AND EVALUATION): $137,620 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Ncf makes a forever pledge to build a commonwealth where non-profit leaders and communities have access to philanthropic dollars. We aspire to a world that listens to those who are the most proximate to solutions and allows them to lead the collective movement toward repair. Ncf is committed to reshaping the philanthropic sector to ensure that funding supports a full spectrum of leadership and expertise.

What it reported doing in 2024

The new commonwealth fund focuses its investment in five pillars to advance racial equity and economic empowerment. In fiscal year 2025, the organization made over three million dollars in grants and partnered with organizations across Massachusetts. -economic empowerment: assisting black and brown coalitions, orgranizations, and individuals in developing and implementing effective asset-building and wealth-creation strategies. -policing & criminal justice reform: supporting community groups and coalitions working to implement policing policies and practices that deliver accountability, promote equitable outcomes, and eliminate the school-to-prison pipeline and mass incarceration of black and brown

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 76% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 41% for direct work, and 59% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 68
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 74.3%; rating input score 74
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.88 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 17th 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: 97.2%; rating input score 97; 33rd 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; 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: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -40.5%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.76; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.1%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -120.3% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -19.8% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 74.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $6.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $423K · 21 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $750K reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 32 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 117 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 110 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 12/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 57/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 30/100.