Massachusetts · Nonprofit
COMPASS WORKING CAPITAL INC
COMPASS WORKING CAPITAL INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 73 organizations whose IRS filings report $45,549,497 to it, the largest being BLUE MERIDIAN PARTNERS INC ($20,352,293). 43 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $18M
- Funders on record
- 73
- Grants received
- $46M
- Net assets
- $24M
What Compass Working Capital Inc does
Mission
Compass working capital ("compass") is working to end asset poverty for families with low incomes and narrow the racial and gender wealth divides. Our mission is to partner with families with low incomes to build assets as a pathway out of poverty. We focus on reaching families led by black and/or latinx women. To achieve our mission, we operate client-centered savings and financial coaching programs, deliver training and technical assistance to other practitioners, and shape policy solutions that dismantle barriers to asset building.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Family self-sufficiency (fss) program:since 2010, compass working capital ("compass") has partnered with public housing agencies and private owners of affordable housing to develop and implement an asset-building and financial capability model for the family self-sufficiency ("fss") program, a historically underutilized savings and employment program overseen by the u.s. Department of housing and urban development ("hud"). Congress established the fss program in 1990 as an employment and savings program for residents of federally subsidized housing. Families receiving this assistance typically pay 30% of their income towards rent. This structure inadvertently discourages some residents from increasing their work hours and earnings since they worry about paying more rent and losing other benefits if their income increases. The fss model removes this disincentive by allowing participants to capture their increased rent payments in a savings account, held by the housing provider, which can be accessed upon completion of the program. Participants can utilize their savings to achieve their financial goals. The compass fss model integrates financial coaching and other asset building…
$6,458,630 spent79% of program spendingNational field-building, training, and technical assistance:the fss program has the potential to reach an estimated 2.2 million households nationally, yet only a tiny subset less than 3% of eligible households are currently able to take advantage of the program. Since 2016, compass has also worked to build the field of fss practitioners and other stakeholders nationally and share out our best practices to expand the scope and impact of fss. Currently, the organization manages an online learning platform and community called fss link, which provides fss practitioners with access to resources for fss program management and financial coaching, training, and opportunities to connect with other fss practitioners across the country. Compass also provides training and technical assistance on its model for the fss program to housing providers who want to improve the quality of their existing programs or launch new ones. Compass also hosts a biennial national conference on the fss program.
$997,840 spent$452,277 earned by the program12% of program spendingSystems and policy change:to deliver on our mission and fully support families to reach their financial goals, compass combines direct service and field-building with work on broader systems and policy change. Our focus is largely on issues related to expanding the scope and impact of the fss program, as well as other priorities related to our mission to end asset poverty and narrow the racial and gender wealth divides. In order to carry out this work, we educate public officials, legislators, and policymakers at the national, state, and local levels, and play an active role in coalitions, groups, advocacy efforts, and informal networks that align with our mission and vision and enable us to help promote promising ideas, practices, and policies. We also work to elevate the voices and lived experiences of our clients to influence systems and policy change.
$695,397 spentof which $73,500 as grants$148,443 earned by the program9% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $8,151,867.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $9.2M to $19M (+101%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2022 3% · 2023 2% · 2024 6% · 2025 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Markita Morris-Louis
President/CEO
Board chair
Sharon E Riva
Chairperson
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 13 funders to 34 funders, grant income rose $1.1M → $9.2M.
19 of 73 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 21% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of COMPASS WORKING CAPITAL INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 73 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
COMPASS WORKING CAPITAL INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 45% of grant income and the top three 62%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
68% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund COMPASS WORKING CAPITAL INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 64% · 2018 41% · 2019 83% · 2020 25% · 2021 29% · 2022 26% · 2023 47% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
39% of COMPASS WORKING CAPITAL INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
COMPASS WORKING CAPITAL INC draws 91% of its grant income from funders outside Massachusetts, across 14 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $9.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Government funding COMPASS WORKING CAPITAL INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $325k on record.
- (PP) STATE AID/POL SUB$325k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like COMPASS WORKING CAPITAL INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Massachusetts
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
74% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
81%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 16 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for COMPASS WORKING CAPITAL INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds COMPASS WORKING CAPITAL INC?
- COMPASS WORKING CAPITAL INC (Massachusetts) receives grants from 73 organizations whose IRS filings report $45,549,497 to it, the largest being BLUE MERIDIAN PARTNERS INC ($20,352,293). 43 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does COMPASS WORKING CAPITAL INC have?
- IRS filings report 73 organizations giving $45,549,497 in grants to COMPASS WORKING CAPITAL INC, 43 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of COMPASS WORKING CAPITAL INC?
- BLUE MERIDIAN PARTNERS INC is the largest funder on record, with $20,352,293 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like COMPASS WORKING CAPITAL INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Massachusetts. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 73 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing