Family Credit Counseling Service

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
364060853
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2022
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
8009943328
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Financial Counseling

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$10,056,017
Expenses
$8,169,806
Assets
$12,114,882
Liabilities
$1,250,542

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Michael McAuliffe MS (Director & President)
  • Sarabeth O'Neil MS (Senior Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Michael McAuliffe MS (Director & President): $499,803 total reported compensation
  • Sarabeth O'Neil MS (Senior Vice President): $207,325 total reported compensation
  • Elizabeth Schomburg MS (Chief Financial Officer): $207,105 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Family Credit Counseling Service, Inc. DBA Family Credit Management exists to improve the financial well-being of individuals and families through financial education, counseling, and debt repayment assistance, with a focus on consumers experiencing financial hardship, excessive debt, or limited financial resources.

What it reported doing in 2025

Counseling Services: Family Credit Management provided individualized financial counseling and education services through telephone, online, and in-person channels. Services were designed to assist consumers in addressing financial distress, improving financial literacy, and achieving greater financial stability. Counseling services included budget analysis, spending plans, review of credit reports, evaluation of debt repayment options, housing counseling, and pre-bankruptcy counseling. Counselors worked with clients to assess income, expenses, and liabilities and develop action plans tailored to each households circumstances. Family Credit is approved by the U.S. Department of Justice to provide pre-filing bankruptcy counseling and issue certificates in accordance with federal requirements. Services were delivered by trained and supervised staff under established internal policies and procedures.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 87% 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

SUPPORTED - 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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 84
  • Accountability: 92
  • Sustainability: 55
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 62.1%; rating input score 62
  • Program expense ratio: 79.8%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.6 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • 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: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 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: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 18.8%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.48; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 19%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.7% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.6% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 62.1% of revenue deployed · 79.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $6.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $500K · 13 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 29/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 41/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.