Cinecares Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
465357443
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2020
Forms available
Form 990 2020, Form 990-EZ 2018, Form 990-N 2014
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
7737148000
Rating
66
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$144,570
Expenses
$156,411
Assets
$38,485
Liabilities
$1,668

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

4 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ALEXANDER PISSIOS (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • SHEILA R BROWN (EXECUTIVE DIR.): $124,231 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2020. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Cinecares invests in innovative, sustainable programs that empower the residents of chicago, through education and job training in tv and film.

What it reported doing in 2020

Internship and program costs, including interviews for apprenticeship positions in the tv and film industries.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 49
  • Sustainability: 19
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 62.9%; rating input score 63
  • Program expense ratio: 58.1%; rating input score 58
  • Fundraising efficiency: $159.7 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 11th 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: 75%; rating input score 75; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -8.2%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.25; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 79.4%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 21.2% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15.1% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -16.2% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 62.9% of revenue deployed · 58.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 4 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $91K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $124K · 4 people listed
  • Consistency: 20 of 20 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2015 to 2020
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 58/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 9/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 1/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 44/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.