Iron Light Labs

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
861206324
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
3129801197
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Management & Technical Assistance

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$700,622
Expenses
$603,433
Assets
$159,248
Liabilities
$113,110

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

People named in this filing

  • ERIC TUBBS (CHAIRMAN)
  • JOHN TILLMAN (DIRECTOR)
  • MARK MILLER (DIRECTOR)

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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Iron light labs runs a creative incubator that develops netflix-quality films to persuade audiences and impact culture, experiments with humor to cut through the attention economy, and brings nontraditional partners together to create a community of well-trained advocates for a free society.

What it reported doing in 2024

Iron light labs trains individuals in effective marketing strategies and powerful storytelling that its award-winning practitioners have mastered. Its training topics include how to be persuasive, how to build an owned audience, how to measure your organization's impact, and how to market and distribute video content. Iron light labs has found these core skills are essential in activating a charitable organization's target audience. Iron light labs also equips organizations to be impactful communicators of their message. Iron light labs conducts trainings for organizations all around the country, in order to better equip freedom advocates to effectively communicate important messages and utilize cutting edge techniques to market their missions.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 79% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 46
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 77.6%; rating input score 78
  • Program expense ratio: 90.1%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $42.11 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 75; 75th 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: 7 of 7 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: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 13.9%; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.26; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.71; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -30.6% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -26.8% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -45% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 77.6% of revenue deployed · 90.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 7 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $544K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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.

  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 10/100.