Institute for Liberatory Innovation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
844716628
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Montpelier, VT, USA
Phone
8025229129
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Research Institutes and Public Policy Analysis

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$355,455
Expenses
$251,159
Assets
$197,076
Liabilities
$3,434

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • LUCINDA GARTHWAITE (Executive Dir.): $81,120 total reported compensation
  • CHRISTINA LEE (Secretary): $42,500 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 ili is a social action generator, reponding to urgent social challenges with innovative programs, services, and publications. The organization promotes more just and nonviolent communities, organizations, and schools, so that more people thrive in an ever more peaceful world.

What it reported doing in 2025

The world needs systems where all people can thrive - where compassion leads to action, curiosity inspires change, and accountability ensures sustained progress.The Institute for Liberatory Innovation delivers creative system change approaches to organizations, schools, and individuals. We shape systems where more people can thrive. Those systems become more efficient, effective, and focused on their mission. As a result, change accelerates, and endures. Throughout the year, we worked with two school systems and three organizations to support them to sustainable change in ways that were aligned with the unique character and challenges of each community and to thriving individuals and organizations.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 95% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 59
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 53
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 52.6%; rating input score 53
  • Program expense ratio: 73.6%; rating input score 74
  • Fundraising efficiency: $14.51 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: 29.3%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.78; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 49.2%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 43% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 28.6% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 52.6% of revenue deployed · 73.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $185K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $81K · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 53/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 47/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 35/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 35/100.