Line of Advance
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 462792348
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2021–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- Chicago, IL, USA
- Phone
- 3123073883
- Rating
- 45
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Education N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $18,000
- Expenses
- $18,854
- Assets
- $536
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Christopher Lyke (President)
People named in this filing
- Christopher Lyke (President)
- Ryan Quinn (Associate)
- Matt Marcus (Associate)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Provide U.S. Veterans literary contests to write poems and articles on their military experiences for prizes and publication
What it reported doing in 2025
Veterans articles written for contest prizes and cashawards for the best articles.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% 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
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 11
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 25
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 11.1%; rating input score 11
- Program expense ratio: 10.6%; rating input score 11
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -4.7%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.03; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.6% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 44.1% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 10.6% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 11.1% of revenue deployed · 10.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 11/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 11/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 35/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 8/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.