Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Indiana Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
351271943
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2025
Location
Fort Wayne, IN, USA
Phone
2604561600
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,406,487
Expenses
$4,588,366
Assets
$12,238,252
Liabilities
$376,673

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CHASE LOCKWOOD (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • JOHN MARSHALL (PRESIDENT)
  • WADE OWEN (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • JOSETTE RIDER (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • JOSETTE RIDER (CEO): $224,990 total reported compensation
  • MICHELLE SCHWAB (CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER): $135,042 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The mission of the organization is to create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth.

What it reported doing in 2025

Big brothers big sisters of northeast Indiana has increased the number of matches from 849 in 2004 to 1,239 in 2025. Big brothers big sisters serves youth across 12 counties in Indiana and Michigan and specializes in placing positive adult role models within the community in relationships with children that need extra support and guidance. A majority of the children have a single parent household with an income of less than 30,000 and 15% have a parent that is incarcerated. This innovative work has earned a local and national reputation for excellence with awards such as: national agency of the year in 2006, 2009 and 2012 and nominated again for 2017. The better business bureau recognizes it as the first notforprofit to receive the torch award for notforprofit marketplace ethics and three of our very own mentors have won big of the year for the entire country.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - 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: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 40
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83.4%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 76%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.37 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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: 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: -4.1%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.67; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.8%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.1% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.4% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 83.4% of revenue deployed · 76% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 21 of 21 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $3.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $225K · 23 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 16/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 17/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 41/100.