Kusanya Cafe Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
273118700
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2021
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
7736754758
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Job Training

Reported finances

Revenue
$82,251
Expenses
$71,614
Assets
$120,127
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Phil Sipka (Executive Director & Treasurer)
  • Jonathan Brooks (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Phil Sipka (Executive Director & Treasurer): $44,000 total reported compensation
  • Ebony Sipka (Director & Employee): $29,232 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Community gathering place for the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago. The primary exempt purposes are 1) charitable - job training and apprenticeship 2) educational (community events). Kusanya is open to the public 5 days per week, operating a job training / apprenticeship cafe and community gathering space. Kusanya hosts many community events each year, many of which are free and open to the public.

What it reported doing in 2024

Apprenticeship program: food service and entrepreneurship. For all participants, the program includes mentorship, training, and hands-on experience in an operational community cafe. Program participants are under-resourced and/or under-employed individuals at the time of enrollment; mainly residents of the englewood neighborhood, south side of chicago, where kusanya is located. Food service track: includes food safety, preparation, cooking and presentation; customer service skills; coffee industry skills (roasting and drink preparation); and mentoring in soft skills / interpersonal skills. Entrepreneurship track: long-term mentoring for participants who have managerial, community/leadership, or entrepreneurship aspirations. Program includes goal-setting and creation/refinement of a concept for the participants' potential business or organization. Participants are supported at in-depth research and creating professional connections suitable for their next step. Hands-on training includes high-level aspects of starting or managing a food service business, or community org, i.e. Menu design, staff training, marketing, supply chain, etc.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 60
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 80.8%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.27 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 36; 36th 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: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: 12.9%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.68; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 102.3%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16.7% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 80.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 6 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $58K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $44K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2017 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 36/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 32/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.