Project Unloaded Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
874212016
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2023
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
8722310983
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Safety Education

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,229,439
Expenses
$1,930,575
Assets
$2,005,896
Liabilities
$8,049

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • NINA VINIK (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • NINA VINIK (PRESIDENT): $246,647 total reported compensation
  • ANN TAYLOR MAXWELL (DIRECTOR OF MARKETING & CO): $217,022 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Project unloaded inc. (organization) is a non-profit corporation organized to prevent gun violence in all its forms by educating, engaging, and empowering teens through cultural campaigns and community partnerships that share a simple message: guns make us less safe.project unloaded sits at the intersection of public health, youth engagement, social marketing and culture. Through large-scale, data-backed social media campaigns, original research, teen-facing local programs, and inspiring youth leaders, we combine young people's love of social media with a gun violence prevention message that can reduce gun use and save lives.

What it reported doing in 2025

Young people are at the heart of everything we do at project unloaded. Our teen and young adult leaders are the creative engines behind our social media campaigns, reaching their peers with the life-saving message that guns make us less safe. Project unloaded is proudly supported by two teams of young people. Our youth council advises on upcoming campaigns, shapes our digital presence, and develops their own creative and community projects to engage their networks around the message that we're safer unarmed. In 2024, we expanded our opportunities for young leaders, with the formation of our inaugural creator corps, which focuses on social media strategy and content creation.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 89
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 77.3%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.26 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 90%; rating input score 90; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.04; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 24%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 54.6% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -102% per year; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -30.4% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 77.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 10 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $247K · 11 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $125K reported
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 17/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Document-retention policy not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 44/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.