Big Brothers-big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
362681212
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
3124270637
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$6,102,378
Expenses
$6,687,300
Assets
$5,457,908
Liabilities
$2,584,450

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

43 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ROBERT F HALLBERG (PRESIDENT/CHAIRMAN)
  • JEREMY FOSTER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • JEREMY FOSTER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/CEO): $226,384 total reported compensation
  • DAVID GEE (CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER): $221,964 total reported compensation
  • TIMOTHY CORP (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $156,495 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite and empower the promise of youth. We nurture children, strengthen communities and believe that inherent in every child is the ability to succeed and thrive in life.

What it reported doing in 2024

Big brothers big sisters of metropolitan chicago is an affiliate of the oldest, most respected mentoring organization in the us. We are a mission driven, performance-based organization that is professionally managed and provides high quality 1:1 mentoring services to over 1,600 children in metro chicago and their families across four counties: cook, dupage and lake counties in Illinois and Indiana. As metro chicago and northwest Indiana's largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network, big brothers big sisters makes meaningful, monitored matches between adult volunteers ("bigs") and children ("littles") from age seven through high school graduation. Private corporate, foundation and individual contributions provide over 80% of our revenue base upon which we build programming that meets the needs of each child individually. Our programs are proven to keep kids in school, out of trouble and on the path to post-graduate success.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 86% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 97% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 21
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 82%; rating input score 82
  • Program expense ratio: 74.7%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.23 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -9.6%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.82; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.47; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.9%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.8% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 82% of revenue deployed · 74.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 32 of 32 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $226K · 43 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 31/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 30/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 22/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 27/100.