Good News Community Kitchen

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
474432561
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2017
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
8727312151
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Congregate Meals

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$146,750
Expenses
$156,254
Assets
$62,888
Liabilities
$477

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Mercedes Kirkland-Doyle (Executive DirectorCEO): $90,010 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 rebuild and strengthen communities by fighting hunger one meal at a time.

What it reported doing in 2025

Mobile Meals - The Mobile Meals program provides consistent food support and emergency grocery assistance to households facing food insecurity. 300 Households Served Virginia: average household size: 6 individuals (including children; focused outreach to families experiencing food access challenges. Emergency Grocery Assistance: 30 families in Virginia received emergency grocery delivery or pick-up services. Veteran Food Access: 100 Veterans in Virginia supported through Mobile Meals outreach. Youth Support Chicago, IL: 223 Backpack Ready Kits distributed to unsheltered homeless teenagers. These portable kits provided youth with accessible food resources during periods of housing instability.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 22
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.1%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 79.9%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $51.05 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • 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: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -6.5%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.4; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 57.6%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.6% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.5% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.1% of revenue deployed · 79.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 2 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $125K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $90K · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 21/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 2/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.