Massachusetts Chess Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
042703613
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2013
Location
Acton, MA, USA
Phone
6038912484
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Recreational l Clubs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$84,874
Expenses
$77,326
Assets
$204,041
Liabilities
$7,708

Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Robert J King (President (until 9/28/25), then Director)
  • Michael Urbonas (Vice President (until 9/28/25), then President)
  • Kateryna Odnorozhenko (Director (until 9/28/25), then Vice President)

People named in this filing

  • Robert J King (President (until 9/28/25), then Director)
  • Michael Urbonas (Vice President (until 9/28/25), then President)
  • Robert Messenger (Treasurer, Tournament Chair)

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

To promote and encourage the game of chess.

What it reported doing in 2025

Other programs. Other programs include prison chess, in which MassChess mails books and magazines to prison inmates to encourage their interest in chess, the Living Memorial Chess Fund which purchases chess supplies to help launch and maintain chess clubs throughout the state, the masschess.org website used for tournament listings and education/news related to our charitable programs, and other expenses related to chess player development. This also includes a $250 donation made on behalf of a deceased organization member and former director, the donation was made to the Gastric Cancer Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 85% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 52
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80.3%; rating input score 80
  • Program expense ratio: 91.3%; rating input score 91

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 8.9%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.64; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.2%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.4% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80.3% of revenue deployed · 91.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 5 filed program accomplishments · $71K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 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.

  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 59/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.