Blue Sky Inn Nfp

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
364405781
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024, Form 990-N 2016
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
7737107346
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Development N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue
$241,752
Expenses
$277,253
Assets
$-54,149
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Lauren Akinlawon (Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Tom Reutter (Board Member)
  • Laura Baginski (Board Member)
  • Lauren Akinlawon (Vice President)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Mechanista provides paid, supportive transitional employment to at-risk youth in Chicago. We also provide individual case management by a licensed social worker and job placement assistance.

What it reported doing in 2025

During this year of transition to a new facility, we offered free educational workshops to the community.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 97% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 78
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 15
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 80.2%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -14.7%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: -0.2; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -19.8% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -97.3% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 92% of revenue deployed · 80.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $222K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 39 of 39 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 15/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.