Trade Education Collective Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
992850402
IRS 990 coverage
2025–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024
Location
Evanston, IL, USA
Phone
8473232878
Rating
62
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Reported finances

Revenue
$408,417
Expenses
$297,931
Assets
$181,477
Liabilities
$252

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • PATRICK HUGHES JR (President)
  • TOM WARD (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • PATRICK HUGHES JR (President): $30,000 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 mission of The Trade Collective is to light the fire that burns within every young person and connect them with local business professionals who provide real-world, work-based learning experiences that lead to careers in the skilled trades.Through our local partnerships with education and industry, we empower young people to prosper and remain vital contributors to our community

What it reported doing in 2025

The Trade Collective is a workforce development organization focused on career awareness that introduces high school students to skilled trades professional careers. This program is designed to expose students- freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors-to skilled trades professional careers as they move through their high school years and prepare them for entry into a successful post-secondary workforce career.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 95% 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 a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and a relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 16
  • Sustainability: 54
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 59.3%; rating input score 59
  • Program expense ratio: 81.3%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.7 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 41; 41st 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: 0%; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: 27.1%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.61; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.1%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: Limited
  • Revenue growth: 101.3% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 86.1% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 59.3% of revenue deployed · 81.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 9 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $242K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $30K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 20 of 20 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 59/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 41/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 29/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 27/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 49/100.