Metropolis Strategies NFP
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 364278088
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2017–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Chicago, IL, USA
- Phone
- 3126168000
- Rating
- 70
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Private Grantmaking Foundations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,292,361
- Expenses
- $2,499,400
- Assets
- $3,238,791
- Liabilities
- $1,103,067
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Ahmadou Drame (President & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- Andrea Saenz (Director, Chair): $685,048 total reported compensation
- Ahmadou Drame (President & CEO): $182,625 total reported compensation
- Anne Sweeney (Communications Director): $136,865 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The mission of Metropolis Strategies NFP is to advance policies and practices that reduce violence, decrease prison recidivism, and makes the justice system more equitable.
What it reported doing in 2024
The Illinois Justice Project released a report that documents significant progress towards the implementation of policies that promote police accountability and transparency throughout Illinois. We supported the implementation of affordable housing programs for residents throughout Illinois and distributed $80,000 in microgrants to reentry organizations.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 86% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 71
- Transparency & Controls: 76
- Accountability: 60
- Sustainability: 31
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 78.5%; rating input score 79
- Program expense ratio: 71.4%; rating input score 71
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.49 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 3 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Fail
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -9%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.3; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.34; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.4%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 17.8% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 18.2% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 25.9% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 78.5% of revenue deployed · 71.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 3 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.8M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $685K · 7 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $293K reported
- Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 8 filing years from 2017 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 11 filed related-organization links
- 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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 9 not reported.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 32/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 31/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 58/100.