Chinese Mutual Aid Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
363139799
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
7737842900
Rating
87
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Ethnic, Immigrant Centers

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$14,592,859
Expenses
$14,416,677
Assets
$8,748,325
Liabilities
$2,744,065

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BART MOY (PRESIDENT)
  • MICHAEL CHIN (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • RAJAN SHAHI KHADGI (CO-INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • RHEA YAP (CO-INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • RAJAN SHAHI KHADGI (CO-INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $143,700 total reported compensation
  • RHEA YAP (CO-INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $126,833 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Proudly founded by ethnic chinese refugees, chinese mutual aid association (cmaa) is led by many prominent individuals from the asian american community. Our purpose is to serve the needs, promote the interests, and enhance the well-being of low-income, diverse immigrant and refugee communities across metropolitan chicago through social services, advocacy, and educational programming, and assistance for youth, adults, the elderly, and small businesses.

What it reported doing in 2024

Citizenship education and employmentadult education: through a grant from the Illinois community college board (iccb), cmaa and its partner agencies, representing the only consortium of diverse partner organizations in the state of illinoisprovided english as a second language (esl) and adult basic education. This past year, the consortium served 1,000+ adult learners. For those needing extra support, the department coordinates volunteer tutors who provide one-on-one and small group instruction. For those needing extra support, the department coordinates volunteer tutors who provide one-on-one and small group instruction. Cmaa's transitions case managers connect all learners to the wraparound services vital to retention, and partner with clients to create plans to meet their long-term educational goals.workforce development: cmaa career coaches offer tailored employment preparation, referrals, and job placement assistance to community members who are unemployed or underemployed. Our clients come from a wide range of professional backgrounds, including healthcare, hospitality, and industrial sectors, and possess diverse levels of education. While cmaa primarily serves immigrants and refugees, our workforce development program is also welcoming to u.s.-born residents seeking support with job readiness training, resume writing, and digital literacy skills. This past year, cmaa launched employment-readiness workshops in partnership with the peninsula chicago, with plans to expand to on-site english classes for employees. Citizenship: since 1997, cmaa has offered citizenship and immigration legal services to immigrants and refugees seeking to apply for u.s. Citizenship and other benefits. Our department of justice (doj) accredited staff offered individualized legal counsel and case assistance at a low cost to clients and, often, in their native languages of vietnamese, cantonese, mongolian, or mandarin. In fy25, cmaa served 309 clients and filed 243 immigration applications, including naturalization petitions. The program secured $70,320 in waived application fees, with 112 clients receiving fee waivers or reductions, reducing financial barriers to legal status.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 81% 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: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 39
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.8%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 88.8%; rating input score 89
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.71 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 1.2%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.61; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.31; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.9%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.3% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.6% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.7% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87.8% of revenue deployed · 88.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 6 filed program accomplishments · $12.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $144K · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 23/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 39/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 45/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.