Helix Illinois NFP

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
851598684
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
8728008904
Rating
65
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Development Programs

Reported finances

Revenue
$43,624
Expenses
$82,848
Assets
$89,856
Liabilities
$42,966

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Paityn Korner (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Sean Connolly (Executive Dir.): $25,860 total reported compensation
  • Caitlin Botsios (Executive Dir.): $21,489 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Helix Illinois NFP is organized and operated exclusively for charitable and educational purposes in accordance with ?501c3 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or the corresponding provision of any future United State Internal Revenue law and referred to below as the ? Code?. Activities and programming furthering those purposes may include, but are not limited to, operating a experiential education labs that teach job skills to youth experiencing marginalization, providing entrepreneurial education to the public, and developing and distributing a social entrepreneurship curriculum. The Corporation will not operate a school or similar institution regulated by the Illinois State Board of Education.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025, Helix worked with K-12 students and educators across various programs. We worked with teachers and students in Chicago area and Illinois providing technical assistance for after school programs across the state, and workshops for teachers and educators. We also continued providing curriculum and technical assistance to school districts in Washington state.

Operating model

Revenue model
Membership-supported. 89% of the money available for current operations came from membership dues.
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. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 16
  • Sustainability: 19
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 70.5%; rating input score 70
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.91 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 28; 28th 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: 0%; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: -89.9%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.08; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.48; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 57.2%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -7.1% per year; rating input score 0; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -13% per year; rating input score 0; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -2.9% per year; rating input score 0; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 70.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 5 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $58K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $26K · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • 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.

  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 28/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 19/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 29/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 8/100.