Chileda Institute Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 391244797
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- La Crosse, WI, USA
- Phone
- 6087826480
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $24,877,330
- Expenses
- $24,252,506
- Assets
- $22,956,844
- Liabilities
- $5,927,649
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DEREK CORTEZ (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- DEREK CORTEZ (CEO): $247,948 total reported compensation
- TERRI GOWEY (COO): $173,340 total reported compensation
- JOSHUA HARRISON (VP OF FINANCE): $147,541 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To improve the lives of youth with cognitive disabilities and significant behavioral challenges.
What it reported doing in 2025
Residential treatment and educational programs for youth with cognitive disabilities and significant behavioral challenges who cannot be served within other service models. Chileda is licensed by the state of Wisconsin as a residential care center (rcc). Chileda is licensed to provide care for up to 56 residents ages 6-21, but only has capacity for 48 residents and accepts enrollments from across the united states. The staff at chileda are highly trained in the use of evidence based practices to develop comprehensive and individualized programs using multiple modalities to best meet the need of each resident. The programmatic focus is on developing appropriate life skills, adaptive behaviors, and developing appropriate social skills to facilitate living as independently as possible.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 97% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program 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.
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: 85
- Transparency & Controls: 74
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 39
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 87.7%; rating input score 88
- Program expense ratio: 89.4%; rating input score 89
- Fundraising efficiency: $22.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- 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: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 2.5%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.95; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.26; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.3%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 9.6% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 87.7% of revenue deployed · 89.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $21.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $248K · 11 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 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.
- 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.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 58/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 35/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 27/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 44/100.