The Policy Circle Co

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
472843650
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Wilmette, IL, USA
Phone
2142476008
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Social Science

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,566,182
Expenses
$3,089,215
Assets
$1,575,975
Liabilities
$72,055

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SYLVIE LEGERE (BOARD CHAIR & INTERIM CEO)
  • STACY BLAKELEY (PRIOR CEO (ENDING FEB 2025))

Highest reported compensation

  • KRISTY KUNA (CHIEF STRATEGY & OPERATION): $189,925 total reported compensation
  • ERICA SHOE (DIRECTOR OF PARTNERSHIPS AND DEVELOPMENT): $185,050 total reported compensation
  • STACY BLAKELEY (PRIOR CEO (ENDING FEB 2025)): $155,800 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The policy circle is a national, nonpartisan organization that informs, equips, and connects women to become more impactful citizens and influential local leaders. The policy circle serves as a launchpad for women to reach positions of influence so they can shape policies and solutions rooted in economic and personal freedom. The policy circle's model includes three core components: 1. Policy briefs and civic education resources that make complex policy issues accessible and actionable. These briefs serve as a foundation for learning, discussion, and engagement across the policy circle's programs, including circle conversations. 2. Circles, events, and community-building experiences that connect civic-minded women across the country through trusted relationships, thoughtful policy conversations, and opportunities to engage more deeply in their communities. 3. The civic leadership engagement roadmap (cler), the policy circle's leadership program that equips women

What it reported doing in 2025

Civic leadership program the policy circle equips women to lead through the civic leadership engagement roadmap (cler), a three-month civic leadership program with tracks focused on local and state government, and education. Through curriculum, coaching, peer groups, and community-based assignments, cler helps women build policy knowledge, leadership confidence, civic skills, and relationships with local leaders. In 2025, cler had 98 graduates, celebrating an 88% graduation rate. To date, cler has produced more than 340 course completions, with 30% of alumnae moving into leadership roles and 86 advocacy efforts led by cler graduates. Fifteen alumnae from the 2025 cohorts were appointed to boards or commissions or elected to public office. In 2025, the policy circle also launched the civic coaching fellowship, a new initiative designed to expand coaching and mentorship capacity for cler cohorts. The fellowship trained 14 cler alumnae to serve as civic coaches, providing peer mentorship, guidance, and support to future participants while helping the program scale without compromising the personalized support that drives participant success.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 99% 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.
  • 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: 67
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 43
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 65.1%; rating input score 65
  • Program expense ratio: 75.1%; rating input score 75
  • Fundraising efficiency: $17.38 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 13.4%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.51; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 25.9%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 18.3% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 20.2% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 20.5% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 65.1% of revenue deployed · 75.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $2.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $190K · 13 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $142K reported
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2015 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 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.
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 54/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 17/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Audit committee oversight not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.