Cutting Edge Curriculum Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 842200013
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Homewood, IL, USA
- Phone
- 2174460500
- Rating
- 63
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Educational Services and Schools - Other
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,129,693
- Expenses
- $1,097,648
- Assets
- $654,638
- Liabilities
- $48,284
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JAY RUNNER (PRESIDENT)
- LINDI KOCHER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- LINDI KOCHER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $94,695 total reported compensation
- JAY RUNNER (PRESIDENT): $4,800 total reported compensation
- DORA WELKER (SECRETARY): $4,800 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 and enhance current curriculum in agriculture and career technical education. To provided professional development to ag and cte teachers. To provide scholarship opportunities to ag and cte majors. To support professional and student ag and cte organizations. To provide financial assistance to local ag and cte programs and teachers.
What it reported doing in 2025
Improve and enhance current curriculum in agriculture and career technical education
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 99% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 63% for direct work, and 37% for grants.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 41
- Transparency & Controls: 83
- Accountability: 77
- Sustainability: 35
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 46.1%; rating input score 46
- Program expense ratio: 47.5%; rating input score 47
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 86.6%; rating input score 87; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 44
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 2.8%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.6; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 11.3%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 35.2% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 29.9% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 46.1% of revenue deployed · 47.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $521K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $95K · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes grants
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 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.
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 46/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 47/100.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 39/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 29/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 34/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.