Chance for Change
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 821626634
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2025–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2024
- Location
- Fort Smith, AR, USA
- Phone
- 4698305913
- Rating
- 66
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Rehabilitation Services for Offenders
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $248,158
- Expenses
- $198,478
- Assets
- $60,503
- Liabilities
- $2,526
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Felica Lyons (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Felica Lyons (President): $68,415 total reported compensation
- Rebecca Cobb (Reentry Community Coordinator): $38,703 total reported compensation
- Carol Johnson (Reentry Outreach Case Manager): $12,612 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 program uses a holistic evidence-based approach that starts at the point of contact with the criminal justice system and includes emphasis on education, families, health services, alcohol and drug treatment, employment, mentorship, and housing.
What it reported doing in 2025
Program Service Expenses for 2025
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 100% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- 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. The filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 72
- Transparency & Controls: 64
- Accountability: 79
- Sustainability: 42
- Growth: NotEnoughData
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 74%; rating input score 74
- Program expense ratio: 92.6%; rating input score 93
- 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: Scored; rating input score 0
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- 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: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 20%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.3; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 60.3%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: Limited
- Asset growth: Limited
Details
- Where the money goes: 74% of revenue deployed · 92.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 10 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $184K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $68K · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes grants
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 17/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 2/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 29/100.