Working Credit NFP
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 472614811
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Chicago, IL, USA
- Phone
- 7732750900
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Human Service Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,141,525
- Expenses
- $2,424,670
- Assets
- $3,015,850
- Liabilities
- $199,158
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Sarah Chenven (Frmr CEO)
- Kristin Schell (Interim Co-CEO)
- Morgan Spears (Interim Co-CEO)
- Jacqueline Scott (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Sarah Chenven (Frmr CEO): $129,585 total reported compensation
- Kristin Schell (Interim Co-CEO): $109,342 total reported compensation
- Morgan Spears (Interim Co-CEO): $109,342 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We partner with individuals and communities to interrupt structural racism by providing credit building education, one-on-one counseling, and access to the products needed to thrive financially.
What it reported doing in 2025
The road to good credit is shorter than many think. People do not have to be wealthy to have a good credit score, but they do have to know the rules of the credit scoring system and adopt concrete strategies to establish and sustain creditworthiness. Enter Working Credit: our program aims to scale credit building, particularly among people of color, as a strategy for achieving financial resilience in the near term, and expanding access to economic and social opportunities in the longer term. We do this by helping participants acquire the upfront knowledge, affordable products, and ongoing support they need to achieve and sustain prime credit scores and to establish a safety net of at least $1,000 in available credit. Working Credits one-of-a-kind credit building program is comprised of two parts:1.Credit Building Workshops. Working Credit offers a signature virtual and in-person 45-minute workshop that provides baseline information on the credit scoring system, including the high cost of having poor or no credit, the fundamental rules of credit scoring, simple and straightforward strategies to establish and/or build a strong score, and scams to avoid like predatory credit repair. 2.One-on-One Credit Building Counseling and Coaching for 12 Months. Working Credits one-on-one, personalized, credit building counseling starts with a 60-minute, in-depth and confidential session during which Working Credit counselors and participants: a.Complete a baseline financial profile that encompasses a detailed personal/household budget reflecting the participants current reality and focusing on their unique goals; b.Pull and review a soft inquiry version of the participants credit report (soft inquiries do not impact consumers credit scores) to make sure the information is accurate and that participants understand its content and what may be affecting their score (if any), and identify barriers and solutions for improving their situation based on their goals; and c.Develop a personalized Credit Action Plan that serves as a detailed roadmap informed by the participants goals. Those who complete the first counseling session have unlimited access to, and receive unlimited help from, their Working Credit counselor for 12 months. Regardless of how many or how few additional sessions participants request, our counselors pull each persons credit reports and credit scores at 6 and 12 months after that first meeting. They then share with them a personalized report that explains what changed, why, and what the participant can do to continue building credit and make the most of new and improved scores. In addition to being credit building subject matter experts, Working Credits counselors and coaches can and do support participants on a range of financial topics. These include but are not limited to: Managing credit card, medical, student loan, collections, and other debtNavigating student aid and post-secondary education financing resourcesRefinancing high interest vehicle loansCancelling contracts, when possible, for predatory credit/debt servicesFiling for bankruptcyHandling judgments, garnishments, and tax liensNavigating credit and divorceRenting or purchasing a home (knowing your rights and options)Applying for tax credits (e.g., EITC) and other benefitsAs we have expanded our capacity to reach people in different contexts, our relational model is evidence-based and scalable. Provided remotely and with a robust backend platform to manage participants and partners, our services can be offered as a standalone program, or layered in as a complement to an existing initiative so that we and our partners can focus on what we each do bestand together better support our mutual participants. Working Credits goal is not just to convey information, but to transform that information into actionable knowledge and sustained impact that improves participants financial circumstances and interrupts barriers to goal achievement caused by structural racism in the cr
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 81% 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
STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 25
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 86.2%; rating input score 86
- Program expense ratio: 75.8%; rating input score 76
- Fundraising efficiency: $7.44 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 22nd 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: -13.2%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.24; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 17.3%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 17.9% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 27% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 27.5% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 86.2% of revenue deployed · 75.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 11 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.8M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $130K · 14 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 26/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 8/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 41/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 55/100.