SafeLIGHT Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
831730080
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2020
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
3129247238
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Automotive Safety

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$130,735
Expenses
$111,919
Assets
$81,447
Liabilities
$6,945

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Nikki Zollar (President)
  • Yvonne Davila (Executive Director)

People named in this filing

  • Nikki Zollar (President)
  • Jill Williams (Treasurer)
  • Branden Zollar (Internal Counsel)

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

The purpose of the SafeLIGHT Foundation includes, but is not limited to, promotion of safe driving behavior through charitable giving to traffic safety programs and to those people and organizations that support responsible driving. The Foundation achieves this purpose through its Teen Ambassador Program and Seniors Matter rideshare program, as well as ongoing efforts to expand safe driving education and awareness across all age groups.

What it reported doing in 2025

The Teen Ambassador Program is a full academic-year program that teaches teens the critical importance of safe driving behavior, while instilling values of commitment, accountability, and community responsibility. Ambassadors develop awareness campaigns, hold town hall meetings, and participate in peer-to-peer outreach within their school communities. In 2025, the SafeLIGHT Foundation partnered with 22 schools and awarded scholarships to 17 students who successfully completed the program. Since the program's inception, school partnerships have grown from 2 to 22, demonstrating the Foundation's continued growth and commitment to the program.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 42% for direct work, and 58% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 63
  • Transparency & Controls: 100
  • Sustainability: 54
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 59.4%; rating input score 59
  • Program expense ratio: 69.4%; rating input score 69

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 14.4%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.73; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 19.1% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -5.8% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -12% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 59.4% of revenue deployed · 69.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 4 filed program accomplishments · $78K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 59/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 22/100.