Grassroots Collaborative
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 364328006
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Chicago, IL, USA
- Phone
- 3124270510
- Rating
- 91
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Scholarships, Student Financial Aid Services, Awards
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,127,428
- Expenses
- $1,189,628
- Assets
- $1,441,675
- Liabilities
- $75,065
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Erica Bland Durosinmi (President)
- Carlos Fernandez (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Carlos Fernandez (Executive Director): $112,876 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Grassroots Collaborative unites eight membership-based organizations in order to create policy change on local and statewide levels. The organization's multi-racial coalition spans a variety of organizing networks; including low-wage service employees, the homeless, senior citizens, immigrants, faith leaders, and residents of poor and working-class neighborhoods.Member organizations include Action Now, American Friends Service Committee, Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness, Chicago Teachers Union, Palenque LSNA, ONE Northside, and Service Employees International Union Healthcare Illinois Indiana.
What it reported doing in 2024
Grassroots Collaborative conducts and participates in multiple issue campaigns across Illinois, in Chicago, and in Peoria. The organization's main activities in 2024 included coordinating roles in the Illinois Green New Deal coalition, thePeoria Parents Project, the Peoples Unity Platform and the Illinois RevenueAlliance. These activities included public education on the related issues and leadership development of leaders of our member organizations and key ally organizations. We held training and educational programs in Chicago and Peoria related to the above-mentioned work.
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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 93
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 36
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 95%; rating input score 95
- Program expense ratio: 90.1%; rating input score 90
- Fundraising efficiency: $622.69 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- 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: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -5.5%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.21; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 9.5%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 13.5% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 13.1% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 15.3% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 95% of revenue deployed · 90.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $113K · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 23/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 38/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 51/100.