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TRANSFORM FINANCE INC
NEW YORK, NY · EIN 842283500 · Form 990 · FY2024 · NTEE S30 · Community Improvement · Small ($100K-$1M) · transformfinance.org
revenue
$550K
expenses
$717K
net assets
$473K
employees
4
program ratio
77%
mission · from form 990

TO ALIGN CAPITAL WITH SOCIAL JUSTICE VALUES, AND HELP ACTIVISTS AND COMMUNITY LEADERS ACCESS CAPITAL AS A TOOL FOR TRANSFORMATIVE SOCIAL CHANGE. WE EMPOWER COMMUNITY LEADERS TO SHAPE HOW CAPITAL FLOWS AFFECT THEM - BOTH IN TERMS OF HOLDING CAPITAL ACCOUNTABLE AND HAVING A SAY IN ITS DEPLOYMENT - BY DEMYSTIFYING FINANCE AND BUILDING CAPACITY FOR ACTIVISTS AND COMMUNITY LEADERS. WE SUPPORT MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY WHO HAVE HISTORICALLY BEEN EXCLUDED FROM CAPITAL DECISIONS TO RECLAIM THEIR SEAT AT THE TABLE. WE SUPPORT INVESTORS COMMITTED TO DEEPENING THEIR IMPACT INVESTMENT PRACTICE TO ADOPT TRANSFORMATIVE APPROACHES AND DEMONSTRATE THE VIABILITY OF THE APPROACH VIA EDUCATION, CONCRETE TOOLS AND STRATEGIES, AND OVERALL GUIDANCE. WE FOSTER A NEW DISCOURSE AND COLLABORATION BETWEEN THESE TWO SETS OF PREVIOUSLY DISCONNECTED STAKEHOLDERS - INVESTORS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE PRACTITIONERS - BY CREATING CONNECTIONS, BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS OF KNOWLEDGE AND VALUES, AND FACILITATING DIALOGUE.

profile · synthesized from sources

Research and education nonprofit working to align capital with social justice values by supporting community leaders and impact investors. Focuses on democratizing finance through alternative ownership models, participatory investment, and transformative financing structures. Works nationally to shift capital decision-making power to workers, communities, and mission-driven enterprises.

irs program accomplishments · form 990 part iii · fy2024

What they reported doing

  1. #1 primary $27K
    DEVELOPED A SET OF RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE BANKING SECTOR ON HOW TO ENGAGE COMMUNITIES IN THE CREATION AND DEPLOYMENT OF CAPITAL PRODUCTS. RELEASED A REPORT ON THE SUBJECT, SOCIALIZING THE MATERIALS THROUGH INDUSTRY NETWORKS AND PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS.
  2. #2 $187K
    SUPPORTED A MAJOR FOUNDATION'S EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INCLUSIVE FINANCE INTERVENTIONS, WITH THE AIM OF ENSURING THAT INVESTMENTS ACHIEVE THEIR MISSION OUTCOMES OF CREATING DIGNIFIED LIVELIHOODS FOR WOMEN AND YOUNG MEN IN AFRICA.
named programs · 5 · from sources

What they call their work

Alternative Ownership Enterprises (AOE)
Research and resource hub on enterprise models that shift economic power to workers, producers, and communities, including employee ownership, platform cooperatives, and steward-owned enterprises.
Capital Strategies
Resource hub supporting social movements to influence investor behavior and capital flows through strategic engagement and accountability campaigns.
Community Owned Real Estate (CORE)
Program supporting community-controlled real estate models such as community land trusts, limited equity cooperatives, and stewardship trusts to combat displacement and build community wealth.
Founders Hub
Resource library and tools for entrepreneurs to build and maintain values-led businesses through legal structures that preserve mission and ownership control.
Participatory Investment
Initiative promoting community-centered investment models that give grassroots stakeholders meaningful input, decision-making power, and ownership in place-based capital projects.
activities · 5 groups

What they do

  • Impact Investing Knowledge & Technology Platforms 2 activities
    • Providing capacity-building resources and trainings
      Offers workshops, presentations, webinars, and collaborative content development to support investors, capital providers, and movement leaders in implementing transformative financing and capital strategies.
    • Supporting inclusive finance and community governance of capital
      Conducts research and provides strategic support to foundations and financial institutions on inclusive finance, including community engagement in capital deployment and community-led development initiatives in the U.S. and Africa.
  • Community Capacity Building & Leadership Networks 1 activity
    • Advancing participatory investment practices
      Promotes Participatory Investment as a framework to center communities in place-based investment by ensuring meaningful community input, decision-making power, and ownership, supported by research and public advocacy.
  • Industry Research and Benchmarking 1 activity
    • Conducting research on values-led business and finance
      Produces reports, briefings, and case studies analyzing values-led decision-making in business, including research on over 600 examples of values-led companies and publications such as "Hiding in Plain Sight" to guide business leaders navigating personal and professional values tensions.
  • Free and Open-Source Software Advocacy & Development 1 activity
    • Developing legal and operational tools for values-led enterprises
      Creates open-source legal templates, case studies, and guides to support the formation and governance of values-led businesses and alternative enterprise models, enabling mission-aligned capital strategies and organizational structures.
  • Nonprofit Sector Research & Data Analysis 1 activity
    • Publishing research on alternative ownership and employee ownership
      Produces and disseminates reports and data-driven briefings on alternative ownership enterprises and employee ownership, including investment opportunities, fund performance, and governance models, with publications from 2023 and 2024 and maintenance of an ongoing database of relevant investment funds.
financials · form 990 · fy2024
revenue
Total revenue$550K
Contributions & grants$426K77%
Program service revenue$124K23%
Investment income$00%
Other revenue$0
expenses
Total expenses$717K
Program expenses77%
Admin / overhead23%
Fundraising0%
Salaries & benefits$519K
Grants paid out$0
Largest expense lineCompensation
balance sheet
Total assets$525K
Cash$499K
Investments$0
Liabilities$52K
Net assets$473K
Liquid reserves8.4 mo
2 years on record · 2023–2024 · YoY revenue +37.7%
leadership · form 990 part vii · fy2024

Who runs it

paid leadership · 2
NameTitleHours/wkCompensation
CURTIS LYON DIRECTOR/EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 40 $146K
ANDREA ARMENI BOARD MEMBER 40 $48K
board members · 3
  • ANER BEN-AMI — CHAIR
  • CATHY ALBISA — BOARD PRESIDENT
  • CHID LIBERTY — BOARD MEMBER
relationships · 3

Who they work with

  • Participatory Investment Partner — Collaborates on research and development of participatory investment models in real estate
  • Purpose Trust Partner — Collaborated through participation in the Purpose Trust Ownership Conference, as referenced in a published reflection.
  • info@transformfinance.org Partner — Email contact for general inquiries
strategies · 5

How they approach the work

Named approaches extracted from this org’s sources. Where others share an approach, follow it to see the full set of orgs running it.

  • Alternative Ownership for Economic Democratization
    methodology: alternative_ownership
    By promoting employee ownership, cooperatives, and other alternative ownership models, the organization shifts economic power and capital flows toward workers and communities because these structures inherently redistribute decision-making and wealth away from concentrated investor control.
  • Community-Centered Investment Model
    methodology: community-centered_investment
    By designing investment processes that are led by and accountable to communities, the organization produces more equitable economic outcomes because community-driven governance ensures capital serves local needs and visions rather than external investor returns.
  • Field-Building Through Pattern-Based Research
    methodology: pattern-based_strategy_dissemination
    By identifying and disseminating recurring patterns in values-led decision-making and alternative ownership, the organization accelerates adoption of transformative finance models because practical, evidence-based frameworks lower barriers for investors and practitioners to act.
  • Investor-Practitioner Bridge Building
    methodology: investor-practitioner_bridge-building
    By fostering dialogue and shared understanding between investors and social justice practitioners, the organization shifts capital toward transformative impact because breaking down knowledge and values barriers enables investors to adopt practices aligned with community accountability.
  • Values-Led Structural Transformation
    methodology: legal-entrenchment-of-values
    By embedding social and environmental values into legal and governance structures early, the organization ensures long-term alignment of capital with community benefit because foundational design choices entrench values beyond market pressures.