Institute for Local Innovations Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 455538768
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2015–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2014
- Location
- New Orleans, LA, USA
- Phone
- 5044606727
- Rating
- 74
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Community, Neighborhood Development
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $624,704
- Expenses
- $611,110
- Assets
- $13,594
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Mizell v Nkosi (President)
People named in this filing
- Scott Bernstein (Director)
- John E Nelson (Director)
- Davorio Stevenson (Treasurer)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
ILI fosters equitable community-centered solutions to social economic environmental and public health challenges through innovation collaboration storytelling and capacity building. ILI empowers local leaders community-based organizations practitioners and residents by providing tools technical assistance structured inquiry methods strategic facilitation and implementation support that strengthen community-driven problem solving and long-term resilience. ILI facilitates collaboration among nonprofits philanthropy public agencies businesses academic institutions and community stakeholders through research training media-enhanced storytelling fiscal sponsorship technology-supported knowledge sharing and practitioner-informed frameworks that advance sustainable community development civic engagement environmental justice and systems change.
What it reported doing in 2025
ILI advanced practitioner-led innovation collaboration storytelling and implementation-focused initiatives designed to foster equitable community-centered solutions to social economic environmental and public health challenges. Through its Ideation Studios STEM storytelling initiatives and the continued development of COMPENDIUM ILI strengthened community-driven problem solving knowledge sharing civic engagement and leadership development across multiple sectors and communities. ILI empowered local leaders community-based organizations practitioners entrepreneurs students and residents through structured inquiry methods strategic facilitation technology-supported knowledge sharing media-enhanced storytelling and implementation-oriented engagement designed to strengthen long-term resilience and community capacity. Through the University of Chicago Leadership Society Initiative LSI ILI expanded its Communities of Practice model connecting practitioners mission-driven organizations community stakeholders and emerging leaders through collaborative learning practitioner-informed frameworks and implementation-focused engagement. ILIs work aligned innovation entrepreneurship environmental justice sustainability public health and civic problem solving with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals SDGs emphasizing inclusive innovation equitable access to technology and community-centered impact. The organization also continued implementation of a multi-year STEM storytelling initiative designed to help bridge the digital skills divide by providing students and emerging leaders access to iPads digital storytelling tools structured inquiry methods and hands-on narrative communication training.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - 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: 73
- Transparency & Controls: 69
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 38
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 81.1%; rating input score 81
- Program expense ratio: 82.9%; rating input score 83
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 70%; rating input score 70; 0th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 2.2%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.02; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 6.6% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.5% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 16.7% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 81.1% of revenue deployed · 82.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 4 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $507K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 33 of 41 current checks pass · 8 findings to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 7 filing years from 2015 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 37/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 2/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX AllOtherExpenses column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX FeesForServicesManagement column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX FeesForServicesOther column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX InformationTechnology column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX Insurance column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX OfficeExpenses column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.