United Way of Lake County Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 362167949
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Gurnee, IL, USA
- Phone
- 8477751000
- Rating
- 73
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Federated Giving Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $5,482,770
- Expenses
- $6,157,725
- Assets
- $8,846,127
- Liabilities
- $325,940
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
28 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- KRISTI LONG (PRESIDENT & CEO (THRU 03/2025))
- JAMES Q SNODGRASS (PRESIDENT & CEO (AS OF 04/2025))
Highest reported compensation
- KRISTI LONG (PRESIDENT & CEO (THRU 03/2025)): $258,198 total reported compensation
- JAMES Q SNODGRASS (PRESIDENT & CEO (AS OF 04/2025)): $152,711 total reported compensation
- GALE GRAVES (VP OF COMMUNITY IMPACT): $126,419 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To unite leadership and resources for lasting change, by focusing on meeting the financial, social, and educational needs of families and individuals to improve their quality of life.
What it reported doing in 2024
Success by six: children enter kindergarten ready to succeed. This is achieved through a combination of direct service and grants to program partners. Grants to the community totaled $188,000. There were 6 agencies involved that served 225 clients in 2025. These programs ensured children enter kindergarten with the skills they need to be successful in school. Direct service programs have a combined spend of $778,426. Included kindergarten countdown camp serving 116 children and early learning clubs serving 2,909 children. These programs meet the goal: children enter kindergarten with the skills they need to be successful in school. Direct service programs better together served 75 families and 841 families subscribed to, lantern, formerly known as bright by text. (see schedule o) those programs meet the goal: parents become their child's first teacher and parents of children 0-11 have tips to ensure their children thrive. Resources included 20,000 kindergarten readiness calendars distributed to children age 4-6.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 97% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 47% for direct work, 52% for grants, and 1% for affiliated organizations.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 82
- Transparency & Controls: 63
- Accountability: 98
- Sustainability: 33
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 93.3%; rating input score 93
- Program expense ratio: 81.3%; rating input score 81
- Fundraising efficiency: $7.08 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 5.3%; rating input score 5; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 96.6%; rating input score 97; 26th 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: -12.3%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.44; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 8.7%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -0.4% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -1.2% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -0.5% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 93.3% of revenue deployed · 81.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 28 of 29 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $258K · 28 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $347K reported
- Consistency: 39 of 40 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 9 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 6 filed related-organization links
- 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 — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 5/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 26/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 11/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 50/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 34/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.