Lake County Lightning
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 263835352
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2023–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2018, Form 990-N 2016
- Location
- Hawthorn Woods, IL, USA
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Recreation& Sports N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $355,598
- Expenses
- $458,484
- Assets
- $110,688
- Liabilities
- $249,569
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Jeremy Lutz (Director of Operations): $33,000 total reported compensation
- Scott Anderson (Dir of Pitching Development): $8,500 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To promote baseball in the lake county area and to teach boys and girls from ages 8-18 the sport of baseball or softball at the highest level so they may move on in their careers and play collegiate sports.
What it reported doing in 2024
To promote baseball in the lake county area
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 92% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program 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.
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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 89
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 70
- Sustainability: 12
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 29
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Limited
- Other executive compensation review process: Limited
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -28.9%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.24; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 2.25; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 9.1%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 51.6% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 14.5% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 22.1% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 2 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $458K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $33K · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- 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.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 2/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 30/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.