Chicago Writers Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 208104114
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2020–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2018
- Location
- Evanston, IL, USA
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Professional Societies, Associations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $119,855
- Expenses
- $112,820
- Assets
- $63,865
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Randy Richardson (President)
- Samantha Hoffman (Vice President Secretary)
People named in this filing
- Randy Richardson (President)
- Samantha Hoffman (Vice President Secretary)
- Dan Burns (Treasurer)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To foster the writing community provide constructive feedback and access to resources assist writers of all levels to achieve their goals unite all facets of Chicagos diverse literary culture and to promote Chicago as a place of literary distinction.
What it reported doing in 2025
Website Maintenance and Development
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and assets have declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 41
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 73.8%; rating input score 74
- Program expense ratio: 78.4%; rating input score 78
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 5.9%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.57; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 34.1% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 20% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -1.5% per year; rating input score 0; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 73.8% of revenue deployed · 78.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 8 filed program accomplishments · $88K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 14 people listed
- Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 46/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 41/100.