Lightways Hospice and Serious Illness Care

Legal name: Joliet Area Community Hospice Corp

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
363191281
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2023
Location
Joliet, IL, USA
Phone
815.740.4104
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Hospices

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$41,962,246
Expenses
$35,362,243
Assets
$63,606,725
Liabilities
$4,056,742

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

Leadership & pay

25 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Mary K Sheehan (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • Dr Muhamad Krad (Medical Director): $678,672 total reported compensation
  • Mary K Sheehan (CEO): $261,391 total reported compensation
  • Erin Flanagan Hardies (Pediatric Hospice & Palliative Care Physician): $218,475 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Lightways helps people with advanced, chronic or life-limiting illnesses with clear-headed, practical and kind counsel to patients and family.

What it reported doing in 2024

Lightways Hospice and Serious Illness Care delivers a coordinated program of support, services, and compassionate care for adults and children facing serious or terminal illness across eleven counties in Illinois. Care is provided in patients' homes, nursing facilities, and in a 24-bed inpatient hospice unit. In 2024, Lightways supported: - 2,795 patients through hospice care (including both adults and children) - 136 pediatric patients through its specialized non-hospice Pediatric Palliative Care Program - 701 individuals and families through grief counseling - 21 children through the annual Kids Grief Camp In addition, the Serious Illness Care Program provided 3,269 home visits, while 1,066 patients benefited from integrative therapies such as massage, music, and child life services. Lightways also invested more than $2.7 million in charity care and uncompensated services to ensure access for vulnerable populations. This included: - $288,000 in audited charity care - $776,000 for pediatric palliative care - $125,000 for child life specialists - $234,000 for nurse navigators - $803,000 for integrative therapies - $217,000 for non-reimbursed inpatient room and board - $174,000 for community bereavement services - $55,000 for community education - $25,000 in room rentals This comprehensive approach reflects Lightways' mission to provide compassionate, expert care and support to patients and families-regardless of age, diagnosis, or ability to pay.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 91% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 62
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 68
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 67.4%; rating input score 67
  • Program expense ratio: 75.2%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 15.7%; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.8; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.2%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.9% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10.5% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 12 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 67.4% of revenue deployed · 75.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $26.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $679K · 25 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.7M reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 10 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.
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 58/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 41/100.