The Gray Matter Experience

Legal name: The Gray Matter Experience Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
811936438
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2019, Form 990-N 2018
Location
Chicago, IL, US
Phone
2177212021
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Secondary, High School

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$271,863
Expenses
$452,753
Assets
$431,534
Liabilities
$9,328

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

Leadership & pay

5 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • WILL BUSCH (PRESIDENT)
  • MILISSA MCCLAIRE GARY (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • BRITNEY ROBBINS (FOUNDER AND CEO)

People named in this filing

  • WILL BUSCH (PRESIDENT)
  • SARA WASSERTEIL (TREASURER)
  • MILISSA MCCLAIRE GARY (VICE PRESIDENT)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

The Gray Matter Experience empowers young people to strengthen their ties to self and society through experiential learning and leveraging entrepreneurial values.

What it reported doing in 2025

The gray matter experience empowers young black people, ages 12-24, to disrupt the status quo, mobilize innovative ideas, and champion their communities. For the gray matter experience, entrepreneurship is not just a career. Since 2016, they've supported more than 2,000 young people through personal development, business education, and nurturing their commitment to social impact. Their programs offer a nationally-recognized curriculum, designed by black leaders, that cultivates the entrepreneurial mindset - an approach that embraces innovation, authentic leadership, and a proactive drive to solve challenges across all career paths.the gray matter experience's engaging tuition-free programs, national partnerships, and community of allies ensure that curious creators and budding visionaries are equipped with essential skills, relationships, and resources to become agents of change and thrive in a global economy.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 97% 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. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 59
  • Sustainability: 25
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.9%; rating input score 90
  • Program expense ratio: 53.8%; rating input score 54
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.48 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -66.5%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.95; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 14% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.3% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13.4% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 6 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 89.9% of revenue deployed · 53.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $243K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 5 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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: Program expense ratio scored 54/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.