Steam & Dream Liberation Labs
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 993130026
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2024–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2024
- Location
- Flossmoor, IL, USA
- Phone
- 7085397937
- Rating
- 74
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Youth Development Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $90,083
- Expenses
- $85,670
- Assets
- $4,413
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Aaron Franklin (President)
- Trenton Dunn (Vice President)
- Scott Tillman (Executive Director)
People named in this filing
- Aaron Franklin (President)
- Trenton Dunn (Vice President)
- Mark Serain (Treasurer)
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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
STEAM & Dream Liberation Labs is a Chicago-based nonprofit transforming STEM access for youth by blending hands-on learning, imagination, joy, and near-peer mentorship. Founded in 2024, we partner with schools and youth organizations across Chicago and beyond to offer 5 dynamic, culturally affirming STEM programs during the school day and after school for grades 2-12.
What it reported doing in 2024
STEAM & Dream brings STEM to life through five dynamic tracks-Healthcare to the Future, Tech to the Future, Engineering to the Future, Planetary Guardians, and The Future Equation (Math). In these tracks, students explore healthcare pathways and the human body, robotics, coding, cybersecurity, environmental science, engineering design, math exploration, and community-centered problem solving.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 79% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- 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. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 78
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Sustainability: 42
- Growth: NotEnoughData
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 77.1%; rating input score 77
- Program expense ratio: 81%; rating input score 81
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 4.9%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.05; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: Limited
- Asset growth: Limited
Details
- Where the money goes: 77.1% of revenue deployed · 81% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $69K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 12 people listed
- Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 1 filing year from 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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 — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 8/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 54/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.