Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
ERADICATION OF HOMELESSNESS: The Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition is a unified social action agency, fully committed to its ultimate goal: the eradication of homelessness with respect for the dignity and diversity of its membership, people experiencing homelessness and the community. Our Coalition works towards this goal by coordinating services, educating the public, and engaging in grassroots organizing and advocacy.
- Income
- $378,913
- Spending
- $359,859
- Spent on programs
- 77%
- Reserves
- 6.8 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 74%
- Employees
- 6
- Volunteers
- 317
- Highest pay
- $59,833, executive director
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Strong: 93 out of 100. Higher than 79% of charities in its peer group (human services, $250k to $1m).
Reserves
28 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 6.8 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 6% of what it owns.
Living within its means
15 of 15Income exceeded spending by 5% of income.
Income trend
15 of 15Income rose 1% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1577% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 14 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Strong: 91 out of 100. Higher than 77% of charities in its peer group (human services, $250k to $1m).
Independent board
25 of 2515 of 15 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
8 of 8Has a written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
7 of 7Has a written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
5 of 5Sets its chief executive's pay through independent review and comparison.
Independent check of accounts
6 of 15Its accounts were not audited or reviewed by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (4)
- $105,099 spent. ADVOCACY, COMMUNITY ORGANIZING & POLICY (GREATER CINCINNATI UNITED HOMELESS CONGRESS): 2025 was the year of the Homeless Congress! The Greater Cincinnati United Homeless Congress was birthed following the historic lawsuit that was settled between us and the City of Cincinnati. The Homeless Congress was established to represent those experiencing homelessness in all forms: whether outdoors, bouncing from couch to couch, in a car, or shelter living, we desired every voice, because, while systemic, the experience of homelessness is not monolithic. In 2025, we were able to establish consistent meeting times with our folks at both Shelterhouse's men's and women's shelters, Our Daily Bread (ODB), Bethany House family shelter, outdoor camps, and at the library. The formation of this group excited many of our folks and dozens of people were interested in joining. This led to the group deciding to formalize membership. The group decided elected representation from each form of homelessness would establish the authenticity of the group. Thus, elections were held at each shelter, ODB, and libraries. People nominated themselves or someone else. After a month of elections at the shelters, the Greater Cincinnati United Homeless Congress had its first official meeting of elected representatives in February 2025 and hasn't looked back! The Homeless Congress had several victories this year. The group drove to Washington D.C. to participate in the National Homeless Coalition's rally on Capitol Hill. More than 20 people made the trip, and also met with several other individuals who were leading their own Homeless Unions in their respective cities. The momentum from the D.C. trip led to us being featured in several articles from WLWT, WCPO and Enquirer, which included front page coverage! In an open luncheon at Christ Cathedral, the Congress invited individuals with lived experience of homelessness to discuss what they would like to see happen in Cincinnati. More truly affordable housing was highlighted as the top priority for all of those in attendance and the group decided to form a petition to call on Cincinnati's City Council to create more truly affordable housing so we all have a healthy place to live. That petition will be released early in 2026! Over the summer, the Congress played a key role in planning the Fall 2025 National Coalition's National Lived Experience Training Conference to be hosted in Cincinnati. This conference will bring hundreds of people who have experienced homelessness from across the country to Cincinnati to learn from each other and discuss plans for how we can strengthen our national movement. The Congress also nominated one of its elected members to an open position on the local Continuum of Care board, known as the Homeless Clearinghouse. This person was then elected by majority vote of our Homeless Coalition Member Organizations, and appointed to the Clearinghouse, which decides how to strategically manage federal homeless response funds. ADVOCACY, COMMUNITY ORGANIZING & POLICY (TENANT ORGANIZING): We will never have enough affordable housing to end homelessness if we don't save the affordable housing we do have and build power to secure more. We both build power and save homes, through organizing with Tenants. When Tenants come together as one collective body, the group can overcome slumlords and greedy developers, reverse years of neglect and save their homes not only for themselves, but generations to come. Tenant organizing is our most powerful work to build power to fight against poor housing conditions, fight gentrification, and keep existing affordable housing affordable. Tenant organizing builds grassroots power necessary to achieve an equitable Cincinnati, accessible to us all. We have been organizing with Tenants at Williamsburg Apartments, which sits in Cincinnati, Springfield Township and Wyoming, for three years. When we got involved, Tenants were staring down the barrel of abhorrent living conditions, a negligent owner and the eventual loss of their 976 homes. The City of Cincinnati sued the owners because of their unwillingness to repair the many problems the property had. We organized with Tenants, who formed an Association called the Williamsburg Residents' Association and elected Legal Aid to serve as their legal representation. Because Tenants were organized, they were able to join the City in the lawsuit against the owners. Here are some examples of conditions issues individuals and families were experiencing at the time: no electricity for a week or more; leaking plumbing and roofs; lack of heat for weeks at a time; unemptied and overflowing dumpsters; no hot water for extended periods; and even, at times, no water at all; and standing sewage in apartments. This is all in addition to rude or unresponsive management. After much hardship, the organizing and legal action resulted in a judge putting the property into receivership, meaning the court appointed a third party organization to receive all rental income and invest it in court-supervised repairs and preservation of the homes. As an organized body, Tenants were integrally involved in the court's oversight of the repairs and established themselves in a position of power in relationship with the receivership company. A primary person in the company that owned Williamsburg was eventually arrested for real estate financial crimes. Over time, hundreds of homes that became unlivable, have been returned to healthy condition. In our biggest Tenant Organizing victory this year, Williamsburg Residents' Association saw the process through to the end of the receivership and the purchase of the property by the receivership company. While the Residents' Association believes the new owner and former receiver has many improvements to make, Tenants' have been encouraged by the progress they have seen the new owner make in repairing and managing the property. Importantly, Tenants have established a working relations
- $82,655 spent. PUBLIC EDUCATION: This year, we successfully delivered all our established programs, broadened our reach through new initiatives, laid the groundwork for programs that will shape our future work, and responded proactively to social and political changes. We found that many members of our Homeless Congress are eager for the opportunity to educate through our SPEAKERS' BUREAU and share their stories directly with the general public and elected officials. We brought both experienced and new Speakers to dozens of different groups, reaching thousands of people ranging from middle school age to senior citizens. We reached students, community organizations, and elected officials. In addition to our regular programming, we have educated the public about specific, timely issues and policies through podcasts, performance, and rallies. We have utilized engagements through our SPEAKERS' BUREAU, SOCIAL JUSTICE TOURS, ALTERNATIVE BREAKS, STREETVIBES SHADOWS, and TRAININGS to inform the wide range of participants about harmful policies pursued being pushed from a variety of directions- policies that would force people back into the experience of homelessness, further limit access to affordable housing and actively criminalize people without homes. Our Director of Education worked with several other organizations to plan and implement a meeting with the staff of Senator Bernie Moreno, and to successfully secure and facilitate a meeting with Senator John Husted's office. We provided policy analysis and leadership in preparing both materials and participants for these meetings to provide the senators with important knowledge and encourage them to not support cuts to affordable housing, homelessness services and medical care. We gathered the video and written stories of our people who would suffer because of proposed cuts. These were used to create physical and digital handouts to inform the public and the senators. In addition, in collaboration with partner organizations, we produced four podcast episodes to constructively inform the public about proposed policy changes. Our Director of Education provided public education through informative articles in all twelve issues of Streetvibes and significantly grew our connection with people via social media by creating and publishing more regular and politically and socially informative posts, more than doubling our social media following. Our education programming reached new people in new ways through ART in collaborations with other organizations, including Freedom Groove and Storefronts. At the invitation of Storefronts, a local social justice arts organization populated by members of our Coalition, our Director of Education participated in several days of workshops through a conference called Freedom Groove. Freedom Groove is a training and gathering event for organizers. This collaboration empowered us to develop new youth education-through-art programming opportunities we were then able to propose to five area schools, community centers and libraries that have now agreed to participate in 2026. We developed a long-term curriculum for FAITH COMMUNITIES to take part in with us. Participating faith groups will gather congregants who will spend several months in sessions learning with us. The purpose is not only for individuals to be better informed, but to assist faith leaders in moving their congregations to collective systemic action. We have several local congregations who plan to take part in 2026. We reached thousands of people in-person with information they need and we need them to have. We reached thousands more through planned online growth. And we set the stage to reach even more people in 2026 through new and innovative ways. We plan to take people from educated about homelessness to active in working to end it.
- $50,700 spent. MEMBERSHIP & SERVICE COORDINATION: The Homeless Coalition is an organization founded on and driven by our members. Our membership includes our primary constituency - People experiencing homelessness throughout Greater Cincinnati: people residing in shelters and transitional housing, living outside and in places not meant for human habitation, and households who are bouncing from one doubled-up situation to another. We have dozens of direct service provider member organizations which provide services including all forms of shelter, affordable housing development, subsidized housing, supportive housing, street outreach, mental and medical health services, addiction detox and recovery, spiritual care, food and meal provisions, clothing, domestic violence response, services for school children, legal services, housing discrimination prevention and response and more. We facilitate the connection of our many members not only in the areas of advocacy and education, but also in the strategic implementation of services. Some words from our MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS: Independence Alliance: Independence Alliance recognizes the value that the Homeless Coalition brings to Greater Cincinnati through its tenant advocacy services, especially when people with disabilities face high rates of homelessness. The Coalition goes directly into the community to serve people where they are located. This is important, since for many people with disabilities, barriers to service begin with trying to even get to the service provider. The Homeless Coalition has been a wonderful collaborator for Independence Alliance in training tenants with disabilities to know and exercise their rights. Over-the-Rhine Community Housing: I've always been, and continue to be, grateful for the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition. For over 40 years the Coalition has remained vigilant in their advocacy for housing, support, and respect for vulnerable neighbors. Our city is better because of their leadership and their work. Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati: The Legal Aid Society greatly values our partnership with the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition. In the various matters where Legal Aid is representing individual tenants and tenant groups, the Coalition's tenant organizing activities are invaluable with helping preserve affordable housing units threatened by bad conditions and bad management. Shelterhouse: As the largest low-barrier shelter in Greater Cincinnati area, we at Shelterhouse are keenly aware of the struggles faced by so many of our neighbors experiencing homelessness or on the verge of homelessness. We are grateful to have a partner in the Homeless Coalition to help advocate and give voice to the issues of affordable housing and the treatment of individuals experiencing homelessness in our community. Tender Mercies: The Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition is an essential partner in our shared mission to ensure dignity, stability, and housing for our community's most vulnerable neighbors. Their advocacy, expertise, and unwavering commitment strengthen the entire Continuum of Care, and Tender Mercies relies on their leadership to help remove barriers and advance solutions. We are grateful for the Coalition's collaborative spirit and the meaningful impact they make every day. Project Connect: Project Connect's relationship with the Homeless Coalition is valuable to ensuring that families experiencing homelessness are informed of their rights and treated with dignity and respect. As a key advocacy partner, the Coalition collaborates with Project Connect to identify and address systemic barriers, provide guidance on policy navigation, and support families in crisis. Their leadership was instrumental in reducing barriers to shelter access for families residing in their vehicles, and they continue to help the program remove unnecessary obstacles that prevent families from obtaining safety and stability. This partnership strengthens our ability to serve, advocate, and create equitable pathways for the families in our care. Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio: Tenants in Cincinnati often need the help of the Homeless Coalition when organizing to improve their housing conditions when all too often, their landlords fail to meet their responsibilities. Time and time again in recent years the Homeless Coalition has stepped up to assist tenants in overcoming fear of retaliation and then standing up for their rights. The tenants see the Coalition as a strong and important source of support. And Legal Aid is so appreciative that the Coalition is there for the residents.
- $39,797 spent. STREETVIBES: Focusing on homelessness and social justice issues, Streetvibes reports the often-invisible story of poverty in our community. Streetvibes is also proud to include creative writing, poetry, articles, photography, and interviews written by homeless and formerly homeless individuals. Distributed by individuals experiencing homelessness or on the edge of homelessness in exchange for a $2.00 donation, the paper creates both income opportunities and space for voices that deserve to be heard. In the year ahead, we're focused on increasing our distributors and expanding our reach. We're exploring ways to strengthen our digital presence, which may include using social media more intentionally, publishing select articles from the monthly paper on our blog, and rebuilding our online footprint. We're also developing a project that will highlight the writings of our distributors by turning their work into poster displays paired with digital content to make their creativity more visible throughout the community. Looking forward, we plan to host monthly open mic nights at Buddy's Place and launch weekly writing group meetings on Thursdays at 2:30 p.m., creating more avenues for storytelling, connection, and collective advocacy.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated November 6, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending June 2025.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since March 2001.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated November 4, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.