Chicago Foundation for Women

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
363348160
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
3125772833
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,266,968
Expenses
$6,513,632
Assets
$25,963,785
Liabilities
$1,875,428

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

Leadership & pay

30 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SUNNY FISCHER (INTERIM CEO (THRU MAY-24))
  • KEENYA LAMBERT (PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • LORA YORK (DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS): $140,874 total reported compensation
  • ILDA LAGUNAS (DIRECTOR OF DONOR & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT): $136,389 total reported compensation
  • BETTY SANCHEZ (DIRECTOR OF FINANCE): $125,096 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

For forty years, cfw has been the only organization in the region to take a comprehensive approach to understand and address the challenges and needs women and girls face through every stage of their lives with a focus on it's four impact areas. Cfw works with a community of socially-minded investors who share our passion for improving the lives of women, girls, and gender-expansive people and ensures that every dollar they give achieves maximum impact. We hold ourselves and our grantees to a high standard: conducting rigorous evaluation, careful monitoring, and achieving community-centered results. Cfw also invests in the future of organizations through leadership development and building sustainable nonprofit infrastructure. As a result, two-thirds of nonprofits for which cfw was the first institutional funder are still thriving ten years after receiving their first cfw grant.

What it reported doing in 2024

Strategic initiatives: cfw is uniquely positioned to coordinate and lead collective impact work. For example, cfw has supported a cohort of 30 grantee partners as part of the eleanor network (en). Individually, these nonprofit organizations work to address the economic security of low- to moderate-income women and families throughout the region. Beyond grants, cfw provides technical assistance and capacity-building to en members, convenes them quarterly to share resources and build trusting relationships. In 2017 cfw, building on the success of the eleanor network, launched the englewood women's initiative (ewi), a place-based, community-centered and holistic approach to women's economic security. These initiatives contribute to the larger body of cfw's expertise, discovery, and partnerships.cfw is host to the willie's warriors leadership initiative, a unique leadership development program named in honor of the late civil rights leader, rev. Willie t. Barrow. Willie's warriors, established in 2018, offers selected women a space to gain a deeper sense of themselves as leaders, strengthening their personal leadership style and bringing their whole selves to the table. Warriors explore the idea of leadership, personal growth and transformation, and how to sustain themselves while moving our communities forward. In 2025, the foundation welcomed the sixth cohort.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 86% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 66% of its reported program spending out as grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - 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: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 35
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 75.4%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.66 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 95.6%; rating input score 96; 30th 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: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • 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: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -99.4%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.99; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 75.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 25 of 25 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $4.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $141K · 30 people listed
  • Consistency: 31 of 33 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 154 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 149 filed related-organization links
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 16/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 1/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 30/100.