The Record Community News Group

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
851425791
IRS 990 coverage
2024–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2023
Location
Lombard, IL, USA
Phone
8152632319
Rating
64
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Media, Communications Organizations

Reported finances

Revenue
$298,634
Expenses
$235,457
Assets
$109,431
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Fouad Egbaria (Vice President)
  • JA Adande (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Joseph Coughlin (Treasurer): $86,961 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

As its primary and most fundamental activity, The Record Community News henceforth The Record produces, publishes and distributes hyperlocal, independent news and information via a news site, emailed newsletter and audio recordings or podcasts. The Record reports information that is educational to the residents of the North Shore of Chicago - a suburban area north of the city limits and along Lake Michigan's shoreline - and operates in a manner consistent with tax-exempt status under section 501c3.

What it reported doing in 2024

The Record publishes content that educates the public on subjects useful to the individual and beneficial to the community, as the Treasury Regulations stipulate. This work, which as of now takes up 75 percent of The Record's funding and resources, contributes to the public's knowledge on core issues and information that affect their day-to-day lives and their financial and emotional investments. The Record's work creates a more engaged and informed public. The Record covers a diverse range of topics that is relevant to suburban Chicago residents, such as local and regional government, local schools, public health and safety, local athletics and entertainment, business, environment and other local issues. The Record focuses on holding public entities accountable and informs residents of the town's and schools' uses of public dollars. The Record employs a dedicated editorial staff with an understanding of the community that follows and investigates local issues to produce original reporting. All of The Record's journalism undergoes professional scrutiny and fact-checking prior to publication. The Record's editorial standards cover balance, literary quality, originality, sourcing strength, contextualization and more. The implementation of these standards are overseen by the Editor in Chief. The Record's Board of Directors ensures The Record maintains its editorial standards, but does not modify the journalistic integrity of the Editor in Chief, a crucial protection of independent journalism and a distinction from how for-profit news organizations operate.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 73% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and revenue has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 48
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 59
  • Sustainability: 52
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 45.6%; rating input score 46
  • Program expense ratio: 57.8%; rating input score 58
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.28 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 27; 27th 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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 21.2%; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.46; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 36.9%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 30.4% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 62.2% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 45.6% of revenue deployed · 57.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $136K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $87K · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • 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.
  • 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: Mission deployment rate scored 46/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 58/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 27/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.