Invisible Institute

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
473551981
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
7732416044
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Civil Rights

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,086,331
Expenses
$1,988,176
Assets
$3,741,913
Liabilities
$29,680

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • WuDi Wu (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Andrew Fan (Executive Dir.): $88,001 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Enhancing the capacity of citizens to hold public institutions accountable through the practice of investigative journalism. The Organization adheres to the central principle that citizens have co-responsibility with the government for maintaining respect for human rights and, when abuses occur, for demanding redress.

What it reported doing in 2025

Citizens Police Data Project CPDP - CPDP takes records of police interactions with the public - records that would otherwise be buried in internal databases - and opens them up to make the data useful to the public, thereby creating a permanent record for every police officer. The Organization utilizes its CPDP tool to present the underlying police data. In order to maximize the CPDP program coverage and effectiveness, the Organization makes the codebase for the CPDP tool and all underlying datasets plus data processing scripts and FOIA responses available to the public through the Organization's website.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 93% 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.

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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 57
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 73
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 48.6%; rating input score 49
  • Program expense ratio: 74.6%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.96 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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; 63rd 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: 35.6%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.88; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.4%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.6% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.6% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 28.8% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 48.6% of revenue deployed · 74.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $88K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2018 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

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

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 49/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 45/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 55/100.