The Nora Project
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 813216328
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2016–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Riverwoods, IL, USA
- Phone
- 5134547420
- Rating
- 86
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Youth Development Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $520,764
- Expenses
- $813,837
- Assets
- $0
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- COURTNEY ADAMS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- COURTNEY ADAMS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $81,013 total reported compensation
- ANGELA ADLER (EXEC. DIR. (THRU 2/2024)): $43,836 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Our mission is to promote disability inclusion by empowering educators and engaging students and communities.
What it reported doing in 2024
The nora project's curriculum guides social emotional learning by honoring ways of being, respecting differences, and fostering empathy and inclusion. Our intentional approach is impacting school culture and student lives in major ways. Elementary school teachers who used tnp's primer pack curriculum report a 65% increase in student's ability to resolve conflict without intervention. Students in our intermediate grade classrooms using the storyteller project program significantly outperformed peers in non-tnp classrooms in the development of empathy and inclusive beliefs and behaviors. All middle and high-school teachers using tnp's stempathy club curriculum reported that participating students identified and removed barriers to inclusion in their schools.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 87% 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
STRONG - 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: 84
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 4
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 78.5%; rating input score 78
- Fundraising efficiency: $5.58 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: -56.3%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 15.3%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 16.6% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 1% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 78.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $639K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $81K · 14 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 9 filing years from 2016 to 2024
- 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 20/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.