Bunker Labs Nfp Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
471474802
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2023
Forms available
Form 990 2023, Form 990-EZ 2020
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Rating
71
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Small Business Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,163,264
Expenses
$3,758,248
Assets
$3,446,480
Liabilities
$118,180

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Lenore Karafa (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Blake Hogan (Chief Exec Ofc): $221,900 total reported compensation
  • Becca Keaty (Chief Development Officer): $217,188 total reported compensation
  • Reginold Ordonez (Chief Oper Ofc): $171,692 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Bunker Labs provides communities, programs, and courses that help military veterans and military spouses start and grow successful businesses.

What it reported doing in 2023

Ambassador program-the Ambassador Program is a 12-month cohort experience for volunteer leaders who support Bunker Labs programs and impact within their local entrepreneurial ecosystems. The program is designed to empower volunteers to grow as community leaders while meaningfully impacting the lives of veteran and military spouse entrepreneurs. Ambassadors work directly to support their local Veterans in Residence, engage other ecosystem partners, and guide members of their local community to the necessary resources to launch and grow successful ventures. Throughout their cohort experience, Ambassadors attend in-person professional development sessions to gain and share skills and knowledge that support their leadership development and connect their local business ecosystem for the benefit of Bunker Labs entrepreneurs. The cohort of 90 Ambassadors that launched in 2021 came together for their next Fly-In convening on February 23-25 in Chicago. As part of the Bunker Labs Summit in Austin on June 8-10, the organization recognized the outgoing Ambassadors from the 2021-2022 cohort while also welcoming the incoming 2022-2023 Ambassadors cohort, which includes 90 volunteers serving 36 communities across the U.S. Later in the year, this cohort met for their second Fly-In, which the Bunker hosted in conjunction with the Military Influencer Conference (MIC) in Las Vegas from October 26-28. Between Fly-Ins, Ambassadors use the training and resources from these sessions to provide ongoing support to their local ViR cohorts, build relationships with relevant partner organizations, represent Bunker Labs at partner events, and host roundtables and networking events to grow the local Bunker Labs community. During 2022, Ambassadors hosted 31 Bunker Connect networking events, 59 ViR Showcase events, and countless other informal gatherings for Bunker Labs entrepreneurs. NB: 2022 Ambassador program revenue listed above includes $1,140,674 restricted for 2024 & 2025.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 98% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 63
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 73.9%; rating input score 74
  • Program expense ratio: 62.2%; rating input score 62
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.44 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: -18.8%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.92; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 29.1%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -14.9% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -1.1% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 73.9% of revenue deployed · 62.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $222K · 19 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $135K reported
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2019 to 2023
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 8/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 5/100.