Introduction
I was introduced to the name UNIDOSUS at about the same time by following True the Vote, Kanekoa The Great and Nick Moseder on Truth and Telegram.
Understanding this was a 501(c)(3) and having just completed a 2 month project to examine The Center for Technology and Civic Life (you can read my work here on CTCL) by compiling data from IRS 990 forms, it seemed a natural progression to dig into Unidosus.
After all, what is more fun than scraping XML data from IRS 990 forms for the past 6 years and compiling it into a readable story. LOL.
Methodology
All the data presented here is publicly available either on the IRS web site or through ProPublica. I encourage you to look at it yourself, don’t take my word for it.
My goal is to look at historical trends related to revenue, expenses (grants) and assets.
Organizations
The three related organization covered in this article are
Unidosus (EIN 86-0212873)
Unidosus Action Fund (EIN 45-5341145)
Raza Development Fund (EIN 52-1954196). This is listed as a support corporation of Unidosus.
The mission statements of each organization as listed on the 990 are as follows.
Unidosus
UNIDOSUS, THE LARGEST NATIONAL HISPANIC CIVIL RIGHTS AND ADVOCACY ORGANIZATION IN THE UNITED STATES, WORKS TO IMPROVE OPPORTUNITIES FOR HISPANIC AMERICANS. THROUGH ITS NETWORK OF NEARLY 300 AFFILIATED COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS, UNIDOSUS REACHES MILLIONS OF HISPANICS EACH YEAR IN 41 STATES, PUERTO RICO, AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. TO ACHIEVE ITS MISSION, UNIDOSUS CONDUCTS APPLIED RESEARCH, POLICY ANALYSIS, AND ADVOCACY, PROVIDING A LATINO PERSPECTIVE IN FIVE KEY AREAS: (1) ASSETS/INVESTMENTS; (2) CIVIL RIGHTS/IMMIGRATION; (3) EDUCATION; (4) EMPLOYMENT AND ECONOMIC STATUS; AND (5) HEALTH. IN ADDITION, IT PROVIDES CAPACITY BUILDING ASSISTANCE TO ITS AFFILIATES WHO WORK AT THE STATE AND LOCAL LEVEL TO ADVANCE OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDIVIDUALS AND FAMILIES.
Unidosus Action Fund
UNIDOSUS ACTION FUND, INC.'S PRIMARY PURPOSE IS TO EMPOWER HISPANIC INDIVIDUALS AND COMMUNITIES BY ASSISTING THEM IN ENGAGING IN THE CIVIC AND DEMOCRATIC PROCESS, INCLUDING VOTER REGISTRATION AND MOBILIZATION TARGETED AT THE LATINO COMMUNITY; IDENTIFYING AND EDUCATING MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY ABOUT ISSUES OF CONCERN; AND ADVOCATING FOR LEGISLATION AND POLICIES THAT ADDRESS THE PROBLEMS AND INTERESTS OF THE LATINO COMMUNITY.
Raza Development Fund
RAZA DEVELOPMENT FUND'S MISSION IS TO CREATE FINANCING SOLUTIONS THAT INCREASE OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE LATINO COMMUNITY AND LOW-INCOME FAMILIES IN THE AREAS OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING, EDUCATION AND HEALTH CARE. RDF TRULY INVESTS IN THE DREAMS AND HOPES OF UNIDOSUS AFFILIATES AND OTHER NOT-FOR-PROFIT SOCIAL SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS BUILDING UP THEIR COMMUNITIES, AND THEREBY TOUCHING THE LIVES OF THOUSANDS OF FAMILIES.
2014-2019 Trends and Analysis
For all the charts below, the green trend line is read against the right y axis. The stacked bar charts are read against the left y axis.
Revenue
Revenue sources are not required to be disclosed on the IRS 990. This I find a troubling aspect of the tax code. Nice spike in revenue in 2019 hmmm…
Salaries
An example of salaries from the 2019 return are included below for Unidosus only.
Grants
See the section below for an example of grant details from 2019. Notice the blip for Unidosus Action Fund (UAF) in 2015. UAF is a get out the vote organization.
Other Expenses
The category of Other Expenses is not required to be broken out into line items as the grants are. This I find a troubling aspect of the tax code. What are these other expenses?
Total Expenses
Total expenses includes grants and other expenses.
Total Assets
For a non-profit, this seems to me to be a very healthy balance sheet! 160MM+ in assets for all organizations combined.
2019 Grants by State
Now we get into the details. Below are details from the 2019 return related to grants made by Unidosus and the Raza Development Fund.
And here is a line item break down scraped from the 2019 IRS 990 and tabulated sorted in descending order based on grant size for both organizations.
Analysis
Most importantly, I am simply listing the data here that is publicly available. I am not drawing ANY conclusions whatsoever on the integrity of the organizations and how the revenue was generated or how the grants were spent. The mission statements speak for themselves.
I personally have no data to draw such conclusions.
I do find it troubling that in the US tax code it is not possible to tell what line item sources of revenue are for any 501(c)(3). Yes, they do have a big donor list typically listed on the web page but the details of exactly how revenue is generated apparently is not required.
I also find it troubling that the category of “Other Expenses” does not need to be broken out as grants are.
Conclusion
True The Vote has said that July will be an “interesting” month with the start of Operation Rip Cord. Time will tell what network of NGO’s we find to be most “interesting”…..
To be continued?