Illinois Prison Project
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 834052929
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2023–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Chicago, IL, USA
- Phone
- 3123244463
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $4,011,672
- Expenses
- $4,143,026
- Assets
- $1,146,256
- Liabilities
- $49,688
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
16 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- SARAH GRADY (President)
Highest reported compensation
- JENNIFER SOBLE (Executive Dir.): $180,834 total reported compensation
- Rachel White Domain (Director, Women &): $153,642 total reported compensation
- Renaldo Turner (Education Director): $139,599 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Through advocacy, public education, and direct representation of thousands of needlessly incarcerated people, we bring hope to and fight in community with incarcerated people and their loved ones for a brighter, more humane, more just system for us all.
What it reported doing in 2024
Through its education department led and staffed by formerly incarcerated staff members many of whom were ipp clients-ipp is actively shifting the narrative around incarcerated people especially those serving long sentences. Ipp takes a person-first approach that centers the voices of formerly incarcerated people and supports their testimonies with data. Ipp educates communities about the harm caused by excessive sentences and the need for back-end reform through training and events designed specifically to meet people where they are-including schools religious institutions workplaces and public spaces. Ipp education events center first-hand accounts calls to action and reading lists all tailored specifically for these audiences. Through this approach we seek to undo pervasive myths about who is in Illinois prisons the reality of prison life and the desperate need for pathways out of incarceration. In fy25 ipp has delivered over 40 educational events reaching almost 9,000 people. Ipps work was featured in research symposiums at university chicago northwestern and heartland community college. Ipp has also trained two cohorts of new hires for the public defenders office a partnership that allows us to bring ipps reformative approach directly to system stakeholders. Through the ambassador program ipp offers robust training public speaking opportunities and compensation to formerly incarcerated people; ipp has trained and supported 28 system-impacted people who have spent a combined 440 years in prison. Previous ambassadors had on average served 15.7 years in prison before being released. Ambassadors share their stories to galvanize state-level systems change and this program is one of the ways that ipp encourages the leadership of formerly incarcerated people. Ambassadors share their experiences of incarceration aging in prison rehabilitation and hope directly with the community through settings ranging from large webinars to intimate conversations. Through the program each 6-person cohort receives 8 months of training creating a team of compelling advocates able to effectively educate community members and policymakers about the deep need for back-end reform.
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 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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 88
- Transparency & Controls: 61
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 23
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 91.9%; rating input score 92
- Program expense ratio: 89%; rating input score 89
- Fundraising efficiency: $24.89 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- 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: Fail
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -3.3%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.28; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 21.1%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 21.8% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 11.7% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 91.9% of revenue deployed · 89% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $3.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $181K · 16 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 22 of 23 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 24/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 8/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.