Theclevelandobserver

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
850863279
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2023, Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Cleveland, OH, USA
Phone
2165440574
Rating
88
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community, Neighborhood Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$71,240
Expenses
$46,999
Assets
$88,306
Liabilities
$1,261

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Sheila Ferguson (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Sheila Ferguson (Vice President)
  • Devon Jones (Secretary)
  • Mark Silverberg (Governance)

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

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To provide news, information and resources, to empower Cleveland residents for positive change.

What it reported doing in 2025

Published over 425 digital content and 350 print content. Number of Readers 10,000 per month. Print Digital 3,000 7,000. Paid 20 Interns, Community and Independent content creators. Produced 40 videos. YouTube and Social Media Reels. Created a digital News Archive. 2020 to 2025. Conducted Community Journalism Trainings.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 98% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filed totals do not add up and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 94
  • Transparency & Controls: 91
  • Sustainability: 62
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 91.2%; rating input score 91
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 34%; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.88; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.3%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: -34% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.3% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 91.2% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 2 filed program accomplishments · $65K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 8 of 9 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part III program expenses within total did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 23/100.