Chicago Austin Youth Travel Adventures
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 812497282
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2024–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2021
- Location
- Chicago, IL, USA
- Phone
- 7732612103
- Rating
- 60
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Youth Development N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $610,056
- Expenses
- $583,798
- Assets
- $207,645
- Liabilities
- $26,147
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JAMES BOWERS (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- CRYSTAL DYER (FOUNDEREXEC DIRECTOR): $175,784 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Dedicated to opening the world to inner city youth through local cultural immersions, career development, and skill building.
What it reported doing in 2025
We offer a variety of engaging activities, workshops, and collaborative projects. We foster an environment where youth can actively explore, question, and discover the world. Our girls in tech and trades (gritt) is a transformative program dedicated to empowering girls and women in the fields of technology and skilled trades. The initiative aims to bridge the gender gap in these traditionally male-dominated sectors by providing comprehensive educational resources, mentorship, and networking opportunities. Our career development, skill building and annual journey to africa allow our youth access to culture, economic empowerment, and the transformative power of international travel.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 100% 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. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 81
- Transparency & Controls: 65
- Accountability: 10
- Sustainability: 32
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 81%; rating input score 81
- Program expense ratio: 84.7%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: $38.34 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- 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: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 4.3%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.36; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.13; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 15.1%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 62.3% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 62.4% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 53.1% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 81% of revenue deployed · 84.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 0 of 5 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $494K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $176K · 6 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 43/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 18/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 32/100.