Caxton Club

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
366108161
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2019
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
3129701294
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$138,156
Expenses
$171,133
Assets
$702,906
Liabilities
$1,716

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

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LOU PITSCHMAN (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • SARAH M PRITCHARD (PRESIDENT)
  • JACQUELINNE VOSSLER (IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT)

People named in this filing

  • RUDY ALTERGOTT (DIRECTOR)
  • TAD BOEHMER (DIRECTOR)
  • MARY BURNS (DIRECTOR)

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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Provide for the promotion and study of the arts and technologies pertaining to the printed book and related textual objects such as artists' books, broadsides, ephemera, manuscripts, maps and pamphlets.

What it reported doing in 2024

Caxton Club organized and produced or cosponsored 30 cultural programs focused on the book. These programs were free and open to the public. 10 were live to members and nonmembers with all others virtually recorded, allowing all participants, regardless of location or membership status, the opportunity to enjoy these programs and participate in Q&A. The Club supports a separate website, Caxtonian.org, which allows the public to view all but the 4 most recent years of the Caxtonian on-line to make our scholarship broadly available. Further Caxton Club archiving efforts-which include digital and paper copies of all Caxtonian issues, all publications and printed matter, and all video recordings-are publicly available at the Newberry. The Club maintains this archive and the server space necessary to make this possible.

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 90% 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

STRONG - 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: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 82
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 96.3%; rating input score 96
  • Program expense ratio: 80.9%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $31.94 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 81.9%; rating input score 82; 49th 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: 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: -23.9%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.11; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.1% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 96.3% of revenue deployed · 80.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 21 of 21 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $138K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 21 people listed
  • Consistency: 41 of 42 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 12/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 53/100.