I Car Education Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
363768028
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Hoffman Estates, IL, USA
Phone
8475901198
Rating
88
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Management & Technical Assistance

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$11,929,853
Expenses
$13,089,539
Assets
$5,742,778
Liabilities
$318,541

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

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BRANDON ECKENRODE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • BRANDON ECKENRODE (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $153,275 total reported compensation
  • AMBER RITTER (DIRECTOR OF MKTG AND PROJE): $134,306 total reported compensation
  • MELISSA JACKSON (ACCOUNTANT): $104,269 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The i-car education foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting collision repair educational programs, schools, and students to create qualified, entry-level employees and connect them with an array of career opportunities.

What it reported doing in 2025

The collision repair education foundation transforms collision repair education by distributing vital in-kind product donations. By providing schools with vehicles, tools, software licenses, and consumables, the foundation ensures students have the resources to become skilled, industry-ready technicians. Our innovative donation exchange platform revolutionizes access, directly linking schools to generous donors and enabling future technicians to train with the latest equipment. The school benchmark award program drives excellence in collision repair education. By delivering direct funding to career technical education (cte) collision programs, the foundation empowers schools to acquire cutting-edge equipment and maintain alignment with rapidly evolving industry standards, ensuring students receive best-in-class training.the scholarship program fuels the next generation of collision repair leaders. By awarding transformative scholarships to collision students, the foundation removes financial barriers to program participation. By covering crucial expenses such as tuition, tools, and books, these scholarships unlock opportunities and help talented individuals thrive in an essential industry.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 98% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 95% of its reported program spending out as grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 94
  • Transparency & Controls: 80
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 24
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 91.3%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: $34.77 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 97.6%; rating input score 98; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 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: -9.7%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.44; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.1% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.5% per year; rating input score 100; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10.5% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 91.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $11.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $153K · 21 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 38 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 357 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 283 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 10/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.