United Way of New York City

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
132617681
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Aug 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2122512431
Rating
87
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Federated Giving Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$85,574,598
Expenses
$84,363,984
Assets
$89,612,389
Liabilities
$76,294,322

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

Leadership & pay

63 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • GRACE BONILLA (PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • GRACE BONILLA (PRESIDENT & CEO): $499,923 total reported compensation
  • MELISSA BROWNE (SVP & CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFC.): $299,108 total reported compensation
  • EICHAKEEM MCCLARY (EXEC VP & CHIEF LEGAL ASST): $297,600 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

United Way of New York City works with a coalition of trusted partners to unite community power with citywide possibility. Together, we meet today’s most urgent needs while building transformative solutions for tomorrow – striving for health, opportunity, and prosperity for every New Yorker in every neighborhood.

What it reported doing in 2024

Food and benefits access building the capacity of the emergency food system across New York city and ensuring people have access to emergency food and public benefits. Through the hunger prevention and nutrition assistance program (hpnap), providing over 600 community-based organizations throughout the five boroughs of nyc with high quality, culturally appropriate foods, nutrition education, and technical assistance. Providing operational support grants and capital equipment grants to emergency food providers to cover costs such as rent, utilities, and staff as well as purchases of refrigerators, freezers, and other equipment to ensure funded programs can successfully and safely store and distribute food. Through food support connections (fsc), supporting low-income individuals and families enroll in supplemental nutritional assistance program (snap) benefits, formerly known as food stamps. Uwnyc funds community-based organizations across the five boroughs to provide screening, application, and enrollment assistance services for the hardest to reach individuals and families.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 81% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 82% 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 88
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 88.9%; rating input score 89
  • Program expense ratio: 90%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $45.45 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 26th 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; 77th 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: 1.4%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.06; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.85; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.7%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.4% per year; rating input score 100; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 88.9% of revenue deployed · 90% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 49 of 49 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $75.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $500K · 63 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.5M reported
  • Consistency: 42 of 43 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 222 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 209 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 40/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 42/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.