Building Brighter Futures Center For the Arts
Legal name: Better Boys Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 362484473
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2023
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2023
- Location
- Chicago, IL, US
- Phone
- 773-542-7300
- Rating
- 62
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Youth Development Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,312,900
- Expenses
- $793,807
- Assets
- $540,599
- Liabilities
- $327,206
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- PAMELA BLACKMAN (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- PAMELA BLACKMAN (CEO): $80,000 total reported compensation
- MARIA MEDINA (COO): $60,000 total reported compensation
- JEFF GOLDBERG (CFO): $4,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Improve the quality of life for underprivileged youth and their families by providing safe, stable, and nurturing experiences that enhance social, emotional, academic and career development
What it reported doing in 2023
Providing out of school time services to school aged children providing restorative justice services to teens and young adults
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 77% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and program spending has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 67
- Transparency & Controls: 65
- Accountability: 63
- Sustainability: 55
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 59.8%; rating input score 60
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 22
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 39.5%; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.68; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.61; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 18.1%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -11.5% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -8.6% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -14% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 6 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 59.8% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 11 of 12 board members independent · 2 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $794K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $80K · 3 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 20 of 21 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2009 to 2023
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 8 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 13/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.