Communities United

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
364394374
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
7735831387
Rating
89
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community, Neighborhood Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,729,877
Expenses
$3,221,083
Assets
$9,981,786
Liabilities
$345,587

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ROXANNE SMITH (PRESIDENT)
  • DIANE LIMAS (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • RAUL BOTELLO (CO EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • JENNIFER ARWADE (CO EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • JENNIFER ARWADE (CO EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $140,005 total reported compensation
  • RAUL BOTELLO (CO EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $138,423 total reported compensation
  • ROXANNE SMITH (PRESIDENT): $6,500 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Communities united is an intergenerational community organization that engages community members in efforts to preserve affordable housing, improve the quality of education, increase access to affordable health care, and increase positive investment in young people.

What it reported doing in 2025

Voyce (voices of youth in chicago education) is a citywide youth organizing collaboration. Voyce defines its efforts as student-led, based on the core belief that the recipients of public education, the students themselves, need to be at the forefront of efforts to improve the quality of public education. This program also includes parent leadership and education efforts.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 78% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 88% 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 90
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 88.1%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $16.81 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • 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 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: -86.2%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.1; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.8%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.9% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 26.9% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 88.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $2.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $140K · 7 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $239K reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2019 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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.
  • 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.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 1/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 50/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 41/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.