Windy City Blues Society

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
800373004
IRS 990-EZ coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990-EZ 2025, Form 990-N 2022
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
3123881197
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Music

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$49,027
Expenses
$42,583
Assets
$10,446
Liabilities
$0

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • David J Madlener (President / Board Chair)
  • Kurt Swanson (Vice President / Board Member)

People named in this filing

  • David J Madlener (President / Board Chair)
  • Kurt Swanson (Vice President / Board Member)
  • Wayne Openlander (Treasurer / Board member)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Cultural / Historical musical performing arts

What it reported doing in 2025

Willow Springs Blues Festival, FREE of charge, July 26th Willow Springs, IL. our 4th year, 1 day festival, 1 stage, featuring national and local blues music talent, roughly 3,000 in attendance, Created awareness of blues music art form, Cultural and historical significance, hired 40 musicians, performances all recorded on film and audio. We bring together a diverse cross section of the community. The festivals foster community development and provide guests with a sense of connection and a shared emotional experience.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 84% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75.1%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 86.5%; rating input score 86

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 13.1%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.25; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -8% per year; rating input score 0; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.5% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.4% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 75.1% of revenue deployed · 86.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: Filed governance answers
  • Accomplishments: 6 filed program accomplishments · $37K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
  • Consistency: 9 of 9 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
  • 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 — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.