Action Now Institute

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
271253912
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2020
Forms available
Form 990 2020, Form 990-N 2009
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
3126764273
Rating
67
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Citizen Participation

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$388,775
Expenses
$233,150
Assets
$274,582
Liabilities
$66,520

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Alvesta Sanders (President)
  • Jacqueline Pruitt (Interim Executive Director)
  • Deborah Harris (Executive Director (ended 01/21))

Highest reported compensation

  • Deborah Harris (Executive Director (ended 01/21)): $71,884 total reported compensation
  • Jacqueline Pruitt (Interim Executive Director): $39,453 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Action Now Institute's mission is to educate, inspire and empower residents of Illinois' low and moderate income communities to take a public stance on the issues that affect their neighborhoods, city and state through community outreach, training and research.

What it reported doing in 2020

Through community education, outreach social services organizing training and community based research, the Organization will work with low-income families and their communities to educate them on the source of their problems and work with them to learn how to take effective action to win change.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 47
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 55
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 42.1%; rating input score 42
  • Program expense ratio: 70.2%; rating input score 70
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 40%; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.18; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 47.8%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -15.7% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -1.7% per year; rating input score 0; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -4.6% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 42.1% of revenue deployed · 70.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $164K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $72K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2010 to 2020
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 42/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 38/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.