United Core Alliance
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 850544963
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2023–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022, Form 990-N 2021
- Location
- Sacramento, CA, USA
- Phone
- 9162343249
- Rating
- 74
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Research Institutes and/or Public Policy Analysis
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $216,314
- Expenses
- $257,419
- Assets
- $9,593
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- KHALIL FERGUSON (PRESIDENT & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- KHALIL FERGUSON (PRESIDENT & CEO): $162,550 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The United CORE Alliance (UCA) is a 501c3 organization created by social equity advocates. We serve disadvantaged communities adversely impacted by the war on drugs. The UCA creates opportunities for economic mobility through community advocacy, community development, workforce training and expungement services.
What it reported doing in 2025
UCA tracks demographic data of our clients. This section reviews a brief summary of our key findings. The data shows that most of our clients identify as Black or African American. This is likely to be the result of the partnering organizations and the specific neighborhoods within Oak Park and Del Paso heights where expungement clinics were held. The data shows that that 11.5 percent of clients identified as Latin or Hispanic and 6.4 percent as White. An overwhelming number of clients (79.5 percent) identified as African American or Black. Additionally, UCA's collected data shows that 32 percent of clients were between the ages 25-34; meaning that 32 percent of clients were born between 1988 and 1997 - correlated with the expansion of California' s prison expansion. Next, our data provides that 70.5 percent of clients or 55 of 78 clients reported having an income less than $35,000 in the aggregate. This is consistent with the expungement-economic forecast report developed by the UCA and Justice2Jobs Coalition in 2020. The data displays that 53.5 percent of clients possess an annual income of less than $20,000. Lastly, our data illustrates how the War on Drugs, War on Crime, and expansion of California's Prison Industrial complex targeted low-incomecommunitieswithlittle education. 19.8 percent of clients reported as not having earned a high school diploma or equivalent. 36 percent of clients reports only having earned a high school degree or equivalent, and 27.9 percent of clients reports having attended college in some fashion but did not earn a degree.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 100% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
- 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 85
- Transparency & Controls: 66
- Accountability: 79
- Sustainability: 16
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 86.7%; rating input score 87
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -19%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.04; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 63.1%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2.8% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 30.6% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -9.1% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 86.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $223K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $163K · 6 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 12/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 4/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 2/100.