United Community Schools Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 461227433
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- New York, NY, USA
- Phone
- 2127777500
- Rating
- 88
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Nonmonetary Support N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $9,019,838
- Expenses
- $11,004,182
- Assets
- $13,457,380
- Liabilities
- $16,914,608
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- KAREN ALFORD (DIRECTOR AND PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- KAREN ALFORD (DIRECTOR AND PRESIDENT)
- KIMBERLY WILLIAMS (DIRECTOR AND TREASURER)
- MERRILL POND (DIRECTOR AND SECRETARY)
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
To improve student achievements by meeting the health, safety and social service needs of students, parents and communities. To achieve the goals, the organization facilitate partnerships between public schools, non-profits, local businesses and government agencies which connect vital services to public school buildings, making each school the hub of its community.
What it reported doing in 2024
To improve student achievements by meeting the health, safety and social service needs of students, parents and communities. To achieve the goals, the organization facilitate partnerships between public schools, non-profits, local businesses and government agencies which connect vital services to public school buildings, making each school the hub of its community. The educational initiative started with six demonstration schools, to which the organization paid out grants to support educational activities.the organization provides medical, social and academic service to more than 20,000 students in 32 schools in nyc and 8 schools in albany.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 96% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 87
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 94
- Sustainability: 27
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 92.6%; rating input score 93
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 86
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -22%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.22; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.26; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 10.7% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 9.9% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 16.2% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 92.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 6 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $10.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $886K reported
- Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Document-retention policy not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 44/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 3/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.