Future Forward Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 320690742
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2023–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Madison, WI, USA
- Phone
- 6084464966
- Rating
- 74
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Remedial Reading, Reading Encouragement
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,665,605
- Expenses
- $1,824,955
- Assets
- $0
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
4 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- KAITLYN BAUER-JONES END 625 (BOARD CHAIR & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- NOAH BOOKMAN (BOARD SECRETARY): $316,818 total reported compensation
- KAITLYN BAUER-JONES END 625 (BOARD CHAIR & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $88,723 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Future forward's mission is to help young children develop the skills they need to become confident, successful, joyful readers by providing individualized tutoring combined with expansive family engagement. Our vision is to be known as the leading provider to quickly and expertly help young children of all backgrounds, particularly children from low-income households, have the academic tools necessary to be successful, skilled learners.
What it reported doing in 2025
Future forward is a literacy and family program designed to help young children develop the skills they need to become confident, successful, joyful readers by providing individualized tutoring combined with expansive family engagement.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 93% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 82% 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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 88
- Transparency & Controls: 71
- Accountability: 62
- Sustainability: 12
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 93.8%; rating input score 94
- Program expense ratio: 85.6%; rating input score 86
- Fundraising efficiency: $34.13 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 56
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -9.6%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.9%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 14.9% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 19.1% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -73.3% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 93.8% of revenue deployed · 85.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 5 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $317K · 4 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 5 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 13/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 1/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 50/100.