Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in Dec 2010.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
81 cents of each dollar spent went to programs.
Form 990 Part IX, line 25, columns B–D. Every line is in By the numbers.
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Who runs it and what they're paid
18 people listed on the 990; $95K paid to officers and key staff.
Brandy Brooks’s $168K as Executive Director is at the 54th percentile of top reported officer pay among 2832 $1–10M community development nonprofits. Peer set: organizations in the same NTEE major field of work and revenue-size band, compared on each org’s own highest-paid officer/key-employee, from Form 990 Part VII / 990-PF Part VIII. Descriptive placement, not a verdict on whether the pay is appropriate.
Compensation history total reportable pay by year · 3 named individuals · Part VII
| Name | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | FY2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brandy Brooks | $167,966 | $137,371 | $137,371 | — | — | — |
| Mossik Hacobian | — | $120,192 | $120,192 | $125,000 | $94,654 | $93,802 |
| Thomas O'Toole | — | — | — | $101,577 | — | — |
Total reportable compensation (Form 990 Part VII column D / Schedule J column E) by filing year, matched by name within this organization. The Schedule J base / bonus / deferred breakdown is not parsed into this dataset.
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Questions the 990 asks
The form asks each of these directly. These are the filed answers.
- Family or business ties among officersPt VI · Ln 2No
- Top official's pay set by an independent reviewPt VI · Ln 15aYes
Programs and updates
Connects underserved Boston children, youth, and families to existing services for cradle-to-career empowerment.
Questions for Bostons Higher Ground
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Family-Led Stability Pilot
In fiscal year 2021, higher ground continued to play a lead role in a second collective impact initiative, the family-led stability pilot (FLSP), a collaboration including representatives of the boston public schools (BPS), boston's department of neighborhood development (DND), boston housing authority (bha) and three other non-profit…
Education
Support for local schools: in fiscal year 2021, higher ground supported three local schools: higginson k-2 full inclusion, david a. Ellis k-5, and higginson lewis k-8, by offering placement of social work graduate students from local universities to support students and families.
Education
Early childhood development: higher ground and the crispus attucks children's center (cacc) extended their agreement for a fourth year and higher ground continued to support cacc in fundraising for programs, operations and capital improvements and connecting cacc to resources offered by the surround care coalition (the coalition).
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2021 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | Start FY21 | End FY21 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $59K | $187K |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $344K | $978K |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $24K | $270K |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $320K | $708K |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $124K | $90K | $16K | $18K |
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $256K | $186K | $33K | $38K |
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $18K | $12K | $870 | $5K |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $36K | $25K | $2K | $10K |
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $30K | $30K | ||
| Other fees for servicesLn 11g | $582K | $542K | $41K | |
| Office expensesLn 13 | $4K | $2K | $1K | $347 |
| Information technologyLn 14 | $6K | $5K | $258 | $732 |
| OccupancyLn 16 | $42K | $33K | $3K | $5K |
| InsuranceLn 23 | $2K | $2K | ||
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $22K | $19K | $2K | $1K |
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $1.1M | $913K | $131K | $78K |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 Latest | $1.6M | $1.6M | −$82K | $1.5M | 990 PDF |
| FY2024 | $2.4M | $1.9M | $591K | $1.6M | 990 PDF |
| FY2023 | $626K | $1.6M | −$1.0M | $982K | 990 PDF |
| FY2022 | $2.6M | $1.3M | $1.3M | $2.0M | 990 PDF |
| FY2021 Viewing | $1.7M | $1.1M | $528K | $708K | 990 PDF |
| FY2020 | $698K | $453K | $244K | $320K | 990 PDF |
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Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2021 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $1,650,061 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 18 of 18 board members independent, no flags
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $1,650,061 across 6 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $1,121,903 across 11 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $977,985 assets, 10 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $707,541 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2021 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
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