United Way of Greater Atlanta

Legal name: United Way of Greater Atlanta Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
580566194
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Jul 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Atlanta, GA, USA
Phone
404-527-7200
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Federated Giving Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$95,403,461
Expenses
$92,069,731
Assets
$118,633,450
Liabilities
$21,591,919

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

Leadership & pay

48 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MILTON LITTLE JR (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • MILTON LITTLE JR (CEO): $636,734 total reported compensation
  • TIM PAKENHAM (COO): $452,692 total reported compensation
  • KRISTEN MCCOLLUM (CFO & CPO): $399,743 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To help every child unlock their full potential by improving education, healthcare, and economic mobility in the communities where they live.

What it reported doing in 2024

United way helps people volunteer in a number of ways, such as lending their professional expertise, advocating on behalf of issues, and donating household and office items. United way provides support and expertise through five local offices to help communities solve problems. Through technical assistance and gifts in kind atlanta, united way helps nonprofit organizations operate more effectively and efficiently. We work with stakeholders in communities across our service area to collectively address and implement strategies to ensure that all people in our region can thrive. United way of greater atlanta's 2-1-1 contact center is a full-service contact center that connects people to the assistance they need to address everyday challenges of living, as well as those that develop during times of community emergencies. Answering over 79,000 live contacts through telephone, text, live chat, email, and postal searches as well as over 367,000 digital contacts through text on demand, mobile app, chatbot and web searches, 2-1-1 helps many throughout the community. The community can visit our website to search the 211 database for themselves.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 88% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 77% of its reported program spending out as grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 91
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 49
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.1%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 81.2%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.89 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 6 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 64.3%; rating input score 64; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: 3.5%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.29; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.18; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.3%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1.8% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.8% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 4 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 79.1% of revenue deployed · 81.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 34 of 34 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $74.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $637K · 48 people listed · 6 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.8M reported
  • Consistency: 41 of 42 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 217 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 204 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.

Key Signals

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

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 38/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 50/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 48/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.