Chicago Votes Action Fund

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
463873520
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2017
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
7732703214
Rating
55
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$214,342
Expenses
$49,324
Assets
$189,870
Liabilities
$26,821

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Dakarai Howard (President)
  • Steven Valles (Co-Executive Director)
  • Jennifer Dean (Co-Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Steven Valles (Co-Executive Director): $199,847 total reported compensation
  • Jennifer Dean (Co-Executive Director): $173,474 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Chicago Votes is a non-profit organization building a more inclusive democracy by putting power in the hands of young Chicagoans. We're engaging and developing a new generation of leaders by opening the doors of government and politics to young people from all corners of the city. We're changing laws to make Chicago and Illinois a better place to be young, and in the process, we're making democracy FUN.

What it reported doing in 2025

Chicago Votes runs 4 initiatives: Unlock Civics, Give A Sh*t Chicago (GAS), Reimagining Democracy, and Advocacy. These initiatives carry out programming that focus on civic education, leadership development, voter turnout, and advocacy. Programming prioritizes engaging youth between the ages of 17 and 35.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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

MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 32
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 70
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 16%; rating input score 16
  • Program expense ratio: 69.4%; rating input score 69
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: 77%; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.85; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.14; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 80.2%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3.7% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -1% per year; rating input score 0; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 16% of revenue deployed · 69.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $34K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $200K · 12 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 15 of 15 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2018 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 16/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.