Friends of the Children - Chicago
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 822650675
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2019–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Chicago, IL, USA
- Phone
- 7733598159
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Neighborhood Centers
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $4,662,352
- Expenses
- $3,781,006
- Assets
- $5,109,810
- Liabilities
- $107,386
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
17 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- TAAL HASAK-LOWY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- TAAL HASAK-LOWY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $200,119 total reported compensation
- LESLIE LEVY (DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS): $123,235 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Friends of the children - chicago has a mission of impacting generational change by empowering youth who are facing the greatest obstacles through relationships with professional mentors - 12+ years, no matter what. 92% go on to enroll in post-secondary education, serve our country, or enter the workforce. 83% graduate high school or earn a ged, 93% avoid juvenile justice system involvement, and 98% wait to parent until after their teen years.
What it reported doing in 2024
Youth in the friends program face considerable challenges, including placement in the foster care system, under-resourced neighborhood schools, homelessness, hunger, and challenges in access to and quality of health care. Despite these barriers, program youth enter adulthood with strong foundations for continuing achievement: 92% go on to enroll in post-secondary education, serve our country or enter the workforce, 83% graduate high school or earn a ged, 93% avoid juvenile justice system involvement, and 98% wait to parent until after their teen years.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 72% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The program-spending lines do not add up, so the filing cannot show reliably whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
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: 74
- Accountability: 97
- Sustainability: 63
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 62.5%; rating input score 62
- Program expense ratio: 76.4%; rating input score 76
- Fundraising efficiency: $9.9 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- 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: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 25th 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: 18.9%; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.35; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 8.6%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 28% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 26% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 34.3% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 62.5% of revenue deployed · 76.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 18 of 19 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $200K · 17 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 31 of 32 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 37/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 48/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 35/100.