Shirley Ryan AbilityLab

What it reported doing in 2024

SRAlab's Henry B. Betts LIFE Center is a virtual and multimedia education center providing patient education and consumer health information for patients, families, staff and the community. Everything in the collection relates in some way to people living with a wide range of cognitive and physical impairments, chronic conditions or diseases affecting function. The website enables individuals across the globe to have access to current, peer-reviewed patient education and consumer health resources with real-time updates, printing on demand and a dashboard to save favorite resources for easy access. Resources such as the LIFE Center help individuals, and their families navigate the intricacies of health care and minimize the complexity of relevant health information. Having access to information empowers people to partner with their health care team to make the best choices for themselves, their families and engage in life-long learning. The LIFE Center's resources are organized according to eight topic areas: Medical Information and Care, Caregiving and Equipment, Housing and Transportation, Education and Employment, Support and Wellness, Recreation and Leisure, Finance and Law and Inspiration and Hope. LIFE Center web traffic in FY 2025 averaged 14,248 page views per month, with 170,970 page views annually, across 189 countries. In FY 2025, total outreach and service efforts apart from web activity were 7,972 person contacts served which includes programs, classes, special events, resource requests, teaching activities, peer mentoring events, and tours for patients, families, staff and the community. Sports and Fitness Program: The SRAlab Adaptive Sports and Fitness Program provides wellness opportunities to people with physical disabilities through sports and recreation as well as an accessible fitness center. All services offered in the adaptive sports program, which marked its 44th year in FY 2025, are free of charge. The fitness programs, which celebrated its 29th anniversary, provide access to a 1-on-1 functional fitness activities and group fitness classes that operate five days a week between the hours of 6am to 6pm for a nominal participation fee. The sports and fitness program is funded primarily by grants and generous community donations and is operated by thirteen full time equivalent staff. Additionally, volunteers logged nearly 8500 hours in FY 2025. The Shirley Ryan Adaptive Sports and Fitness Program is considered a national leader in health promotion for people with disabilities. In FY 2025 we continued to expand programming, developing new initiatives to promote wellness opportunities for persons living with disabilities. The functional fitness program continues to provide services virtually, as well as, in person recording 8,456 one-on-one visits and welcomed 260 new participants ranging from age 12 to 96 in FY 2025. In addition, there were nearly 8,000 group class visits, held in person and virtually across three different sites. The sports program recorded over 6300 by 550 registered participants while the Tengelsen Family Foundation Sports for Kids program recorded more than 820 visits by 135 Chicago area children with disabilities. Adaptive Sports and Fitness programs continue to develop community partnerships and collaborations that open doors for people living with a disability to lead an active healthy lifestyle Vocational Rehabilitation Program: Beginning a career or returning to work following an illness or injury is important to a patient's financial security and emotional well-being. It can contribute to the achievement of a productive, independent and fulfilling life. For more than 50 years, the SRAlab has been providing comprehensive vocational rehabilitation services tailored to meet the needs of each client. Services include initial assessment, vocational counseling and guidance, diagnostic evaluation, work trial assessments, job analysis, return-to-work evaluations, job placement, resume writi

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 87.5%; rating input score 87
• Program expense ratio: 86.6%; rating input score 87
• Fundraising efficiency: $18.1 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
  • Compensation committee: Pass
  • Independent consultant: Pass
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
  • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
  • Requires narrative reports: Fail
  • Conducts field audits: Pass
  • May suspend future funding: Fail
  • Requires financial reports: Fail
  • Conducts site visits: Fail
  • Requires grant agreements: Fail
  • May require repayment: Fail
• Grant itemization coverage: 99.8%; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 88.2%; rating input score 88; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 5.7%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.9; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.3; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 3.3%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 6.7% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings