Blue 1647 Nfp

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
463527571
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2015
Forms available
Form 990 2015
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Primary, Elementary Schools

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$612,525
Expenses
$617,246
Assets
$95,088
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2015. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

1 person listed

Highest reported compensation

  • EMILE CAMBRY (EXECUTIVE DI): $6,500 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2015. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Blue1647 is a tech and entrepreneurship incubator focusing on technology education, people development, and entrepreneurial events with specific focus on teaching middle and high school students technology skills, as well as offering classes and workshops for adult learners in underserved communities.

What it reported doing in 2015

Accomplishments: youth served: 4000+ --hired as contracted instructors: 15 standout students provided general access to computers & telecommunications technology: 28,542 individuals training participants: 4000+ youths; 2900+ adults --successful completion of training: youths and adults --transitioned to advanced educational programs: youths & adults --transitioned to workforce training programs: youths & adults 6 week youth workforce development program -- youth participated and completed basic coding & app development -- students completed a+ certification training -- youth completed 150 hours of coding & app development resulting in functional mobile, gaming, web, and hardware apps.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 79% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 94% 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 a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 62
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 37
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 69.7%; rating input score 70
  • Program expense ratio: 69.1%; rating input score 69
  • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 74th 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: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -0.8%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.15; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.1%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 55.4% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 22.9% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -5.5% per year; rating input score 0; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 69.7% of revenue deployed · 69.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $427K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $6K · 1 people listed
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2014 to 2015
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 34/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.