Communities Unlimited Inc
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
Communities Unlimited connects rural Americans to solutions that sustain healthy businesses, healthy communities and healthy lives through programs focused on community sustainability, entrepreneurship, charitable lending, healthy food and water initiatives.
- Income
- $17.4 million
- Spending
- $15.7 million
- Spent on programs
- 83%
- Reserves
- 17.2 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- government grants, 57%
- Employees
- 0
- Volunteers
- 0
- Highest pay
- $182,296, ceo
Source: Form 990 for the year ending September 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Strong: 90 out of 100. Higher than 84% of charities in its peer group (community improvement, $10m to $100m).
Reserves
35 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 17.2 months of spending.
Debt
10 of 20It owes 50% of what it owns.
Living within its means
15 of 15Income exceeded spending by 10% of income.
Income trend
15 of 15Income rose 13% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1583% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 0 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending September 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Strong: 100 out of 100. Higher than 42% of charities in its peer group (community improvement, $10m to $100m).
Independent board
25 of 258 of 8 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
15 of 15Its accounts were audited 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 September 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)
- $5.5 million spent. CU's Community Infrastructure Services Program works with small population community infrastructure management systems: community drinking water systems; wastewater systems; and solid waste management systems through on-site technical assistance, training, publications, and financing. With a current staff of over 50 highly trained professional technical assistance providers, CU Community Infrastructure Services supports efforts to provide access to safe drinking water for everyone and responsible waste disposal within an ever-changing regulatory environment. Our technical assistance focuses on building local capacity of governing board members, water system operators, and other system staff so that they will develop and maintain the capability to adequately manage and operate their water/wastewater management systems. CU provides infrastructure technical assistance and training throughout a seven-state region of Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma.
- $2.0 million spent. In 1992, CU started making loans to water and wastewater systems in rural areas to ensure that residents had clean, healthy drinking water and safe wastewater treatment systems. In 2001 CU was certified as a CDFI. Loans made to water and wastewater management systems are used for improvement projects, pre-development financing, purchase of equipment and emergency financing needs. In 2025, CU closed $3,970,346 in loans to 18 water and wastewater systems to improve their systems. These loans included $931,000 (24%) loaned in Persistent Poverty Counties. Loans ranged from the small loan needed to meet compliance to larger loans for pre-development work that helped these communities access larger state and federal loans. These loans impacted 9,945 household in Arkansas, Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, and Oklahoma in communities with poverty rates as high as 35%. Small business lending was added in 2010 as small businesses were struggling to recover from the 2008 recession and bank lending tightened. Again, CU works to fill the gap in financing with loans from $1,000 to $200,000 to small businesses that do not qualify for traditional financing. Small business loans can be used for working capital, which is one of the biggest gaps in small business financing. Other uses include purchase or repair of equipment and real estate purchase or improvements. CU offers a variety of small business loan products that are designed to grow as the business grows. In 2025, CU increased loan production by 14%. Sixty-five small businesses received $2,068,354 in loans, averaging $31,821. 63% of small business loans went to rural areas. In 2025, CU's home improvement program provided 146 loans, making a direct impact on the resident' living conditions and often increasing the values of their largest asset. In March 2025, CU expanded the program's territory by launching the home improvement program in the Arkansas Delta region, providing 38 loans and $132,000 in loan capital The program also offers credit counseling and financial incentives to pay on time and improve individual credit scores allowing for improved access to traditional financial products. Through CU's credit counseling efforts, payment monitoring and one on one personal assistance, 81% of the renewal customers have seen an increase in their FICO score, with at least 49 borrowers reporting a score for the first time.
- $5.1 million spent. Housing, Entrepreneurship, and Community Sustainability: CU follows a holistic, community-centered housing approach with a focus on local capacity building, technical assistance, resource development, and housing preservation and development. CU staff works with their communities to create a housing taskforce, complete a comprehensive housing needs assessment, assist with strategic planning, and support the communities in grant writing. CU provided prepurchase homebuyer education and housing counseling to support individuals and families as they apply for mortgages for home purchases or loans for home rehabilitation. - Entrepreneurship - During fiscal year 2025, the Entrepreneurship Team assisted 357 clients in one-on-one engagements ranging from 25 to 100 hours of management consulting. The program served 325 business in various training events such as webinars, live workshops, and our self-paced Learning Management System. Through the Entrepreneurship team's wealth building initiative (launched in August 2022), CU is teaching business owners how to use their business as a tool for personal wealth creation. Over 144 clients committed to the program so far that includes 100+ hours of consulting and training. Business owners are taught how to grow business retained earnings that are then used strategically toward increasing the owner's personal net worth, establishing retirement accounts, securing capital or other wealth creation strategies. Community Sustainability - As FY 2025 closed, CU's Community Sustainability team worked alongside leadership teams in 152 communities, developing more vibrant, sustainable economies by leveraging local assets for long-term growth. CU's staff facilitates this process and assists by coordinating internal and external resources to address broadband access and education, healthy foods, infrastructure management and improvement, community facility development, small business development and access to financing. Within the CS team our Healthy Foods program provides technical assistance and access to resources that created connections to new market opportunities for farmers; completion of GAP/GHP certification by small-scale underserved farmers; development and/or expansion of local markets; connections between local medical providers and schools to local producers resulting in increased access to fresh produce; and expanded access to resources to meet transportation, aggregation and storage needs in unserved rural areas. The Broadband work impacts communities across all seven states of CU's service area with focus intentionally beginning in those communities where CS teammates have already established trusting relationships and leadership teams allowing for expedited opportunities. The team of broadband content experts uses an award-winning broadband planning methodology recognized through a second USDA Broadband Technical Assistance grant and partnered as a subcontractor on a third USDA BTA award in 2025. Since 2022, the team offers broadband planning, capacity building training, to ensure all homes and businesses have access to high speed Internet.
- $353,778 spent. Miscellaneous programs
Source: Form 990 for the year ending September 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 September 7, 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 September 30, 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 September 10, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending September 2025.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since February 1977.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 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 October 7, 2026.
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