Midwest Academy
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 362776406
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2018–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Chicago, IL, USA
- Phone
- 3124272304
- Rating
- 72
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $4,698,640
- Expenses
- $1,983,903
- Assets
- $6,438,575
- Liabilities
- $125,932
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
17 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Yomara Velez (Executive Dir.): $168,726 total reported compensation
- Eric Zachary (Executive Dir.): $168,726 total reported compensation
- Kristina Tendilla (Programs): $111,750 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Training and consulting with community organizers, supervisors and volunteers.
What it reported doing in 2025
Midwest Academy trains and supports the next generation of organizers. Since its founding in 1973, its trainers have distilled decades of experience to provide a distinct training framework that helps organizers develop key organizing skills to deepen their vision for justice. The organization currently provides 3 multi-day trainings: Organizing for Justice, Organizing for Justice Part 2, and Supervising Organizers, along with offering 1-day trainings on Strategy and Coalitions. Additionally, the organization offers coaching for individuals or customized training for organizations to identify needs and current roadblocks to achieving their organizing goals.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 83% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 86% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 54
- Transparency & Controls: 71
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 74
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 34.9%; rating input score 35
- Program expense ratio: 79.7%; rating input score 80
- Fundraising efficiency: $28.27 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 68; 68th 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; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 57.8%; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.25; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 28.3%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 20.5% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 28.4% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 37% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 34.9% of revenue deployed · 79.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $169K · 17 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 8 filing years from 2018 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 35/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.