Illinois Fire Chiefs Association Educational and Research Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
363051900
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Skokie, IL, USA
Phone
8479660732
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$913,461
Expenses
$729,236
Assets
$1,565,236
Liabilities
$289,079

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

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Chief James Moore (President)
  • Margi Schiemann (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Chief John Buckley (Executive Dir.): $121,000 total reported compensation
  • Maureen Griseto (Admin): $74,376 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 benefit Illinois fire and ems organization by offering educational programs and courses. The foundation also awards and manages educational scholarships, grants, and special projects.

What it reported doing in 2025

1) provide courses in fire department service management and training for fire service instructors and inspectors and tactics and strategies. 2) scholarship grants to individuals.3) award grants for the purpose of providing information services to the public relating to fire services

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 86% 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 filed totals do not add up and liabilities are high compared with assets.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 94
  • Sustainability: 56
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 73%; rating input score 73
  • Program expense ratio: 90.4%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $25.63 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 85.8%; rating input score 86; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 90.5%; rating input score 90; 26th 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: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 20.2%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.15; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.18; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: Limited

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.9% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.8% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 73% of revenue deployed · 90.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 19 of 21 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $659K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $121K · 21 people listed
  • Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 26/100.