American Council of the Blind Ohio Chapter

What it reported doing in 2025

Awards: acb-Ohio offers awards to honor Ohio individuals and groups who have improved the quality of life for the visually impaired and blind community. In 2025 the organization was privileged to present six awards: the ruth davidson award to tom sawyer, a recently retired outreach services specialist at the cleveland sight center who is passionate about our community while teaching and demonstration assistive technology to many blind adults and children. The employer of the year award went to jpmorganchase for their commitment to hiring people with disabilities and providing them with accommodations needed to succeed such as jaws and aira. Medina chapter member arla simonis won this years ken morlock award for her unwavering dedication and enthusiasm keep the medina chapter energized. The ambassador award was presented to iwin hott for his lifetime commitment to the community as the editor of the newsreel audio program and his uplifting and clear delivery has helped empower people who are blind. Preservation parks of Delaware county was honored with the community service award for creating an accessible trail at hogback ridge park. Park managers casey smith and zach messinger spearheaded its creation, seeking input from acbo members, other non-profits, government agencies, and park systems throughout the nation, to build a trail that enables all people to safely and independently experience the natural world. The arlene cohen art of teaching award was awarded to jon stricklen from Ohio state school for the blind. His teaching career embodies the very essence of this awardexcellence in teaching, innovation, and a deep commitment to the success of students who are blind or visually impaired. Newsletter: our quarterly newsletter, the Ohio connection, goes to all newsletter subscribers and to many others who are interested in our work. Our newsletter contains profiles and articles that members submit about advocacy, upcoming events, member profiles, and articles including accessible technology, travel, board elections, legislative imperatives, and bios of award and scholarship recipients. We provide copies in large print, by e-mail, and each issue is on nfb newsline, an audio reading service accessible by phone. The most recent issue, as well as archives from previous years can be found on our website. Voicecorps program: for years, acb-Ohio has had a monthly show on voicecorps reading service. Each show is hosted by our board members and features guests who talk about topics of interest to people in the blindness/low vision community. In 2025 guests included technology experts, product vendors, leaders from acb's national office and other affiliates. It enables us to share what acb-Ohio is doing, keep people informed, and bring awareness to state and national programs and resources. Sports and recreation: social interaction and exercise are vitally important to physical and mental health. Acb-Ohio provides opportunities for recreation, physical activity to get people moving and fight the isolation and stress of living without vision in a sight-centric world. In 2025, the recreation committee planned a fallfest retreat weekend in wooster, Ohio. Twenty-one acbo members were together again at the third annual fall celebration at the end of september in scenic northeastern Ohio. Thanks to the great staff at best western wooster, our wonderful supporters in the wooster noon lions club, and the friendly folks throughout the town, we had another awesome weekend filled with great food, conversation, fun, and excitement the highlight of the fest occurred during friday nights pizza party with a children from the boys and girls club. They helped serve food and learned about visual impairments by walking with blindfolds and joining us in accessible games like tactile connect 4 and braille go fish. Scholarships: acb-Ohio offers scholarships to students who are blind or visually impaired in Ohio and those whose program of study benefits the b

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
• Program expense ratio: 81.8%; rating input score 82
• Fundraising efficiency: $45.69 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

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: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: NotApplicable
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Missing
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -75.6%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 10.91; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 34.7%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: -0% per year; rating input score 0; 48th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: -0.3% per year; rating input score 0; 56th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 8.7% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings