The Cara Program
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 364268095
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Chicago, IL, USA
- Phone
- 3127983334
- Rating
- 76
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Employment Procurement Assistance
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $20,870,682
- Expenses
- $16,565,889
- Assets
- $26,522,087
- Liabilities
- $4,357,676
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
34 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Kathleen Caliento (President/CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- Kathleen Caliento (President/CEO): $299,990 total reported compensation
- Tara Harper (Chief External Affairs Officer): $213,536 total reported compensation
- Joel Pomerenk (CFO): $183,494 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Build an inclusive economy by developing employment pathways to advance transformative individual and community success.
What it reported doing in 2024
Traditional Training & Placement Program is Cara's traditional services which includes a comprehensive range of training and support for motivated individuals affected by poverty and homelessness, including life-skills training, specialized job-skills training, and personalized career placement services.South Side Campus (SSC) is Cara's South Side campus and provides trainings and workshops similar to Cara's traditional program. The SSC also offers drop-in financial and digital literacy trainings and referrals to wraparound supportive services.Employment Retention ensures that participants of Cara have the tools needed for long-term selfsufficiency.Cara offers personal and professional coaching throughout each participant's first year of employment. These services include: regular one-on-one meetings with employed participants about on-the-job successes and challenges; and development of individual long-term goals, including goals related to housing, education, and debt repayment. As a result, over 70% or more of employed Cara participants receiving this support remain in their first job placement for at least one year. In addition to employment retention support, Cara's Career AdvancementProgram supports participants who have not only achieved stability in their personal and professional lives, but who also show an exceptional drive to grow in their careers. Once participants have been employed for at least six months and are established personally and professionally, they may opt in to career advancement services.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 62
- Transparency & Controls: 75
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 64
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 59.9%; rating input score 60
- Program expense ratio: 73.9%; rating input score 74
- Fundraising efficiency: $9.43 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 89.9%; rating input score 90; 20th 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; 66th 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: 20.6%; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.6; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 11.3%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 8.7% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 59.9% of revenue deployed · 73.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 21 of 21 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $12.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $300K · 34 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 37 of 38 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 12 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 3 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 36/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 54/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.