Chicago Futabakai Japanese School

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
362595572
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Arlington Heights, IL, USA
Phone
8475905700
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,684,967
Expenses
$4,244,421
Assets
$9,805,049
Liabilities
$1,942,660

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

22 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Wataru Kukita (President)
  • Hiromi Nakazawa (Vice President)
  • Tetsuro Tsutano (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Mayumi Kishimoto (Administrator): $138,254 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Registered with the Illinois State Board of Education, the Organization operates, administers and supervises Futabakai Day and Saturday school in Chicago. Instruction predominently in Japanese and curriculum developed to emulate the Japanese school system curriculum.

What it reported doing in 2025

The school operated both Day and Saturday school programs. The Day school consists of pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, elementary and junior high school curriculum for approximately 91 students. The Saturday school program provides education for approximately 579 kindergarten through high school students.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 68% of the money available for current operations came from other operating 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 59
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 86
  • Sustainability: 56
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 65.2%; rating input score 65
  • Program expense ratio: 69.7%; rating input score 70
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 9.4%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.31; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.3%; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.1% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.9% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.6% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 65.2% of revenue deployed · 69.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 18 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $138K · 22 people listed
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • 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 8 not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 54/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 35/100.