YWCA Metropolitan Chicago

What it reported doing in 2024

Unleashing youth and family potential: head start and early head start early head start and head start programs are the backbone of a strong childcare ecosystem, ensuring children are ready for school and supporting parents at work or in their businesses. Ywca metro chicago is a key leader in this effort, partnering with 19 community-based childcare providers to enroll 621 early learners (458 in head start and 163 in early head start), transforming the life trajectory of the next generation. Our goals include: closing the enrollment gap: we strive to close the gap in access and enrollment in lake and dupage counties through coordinated, comprehensive services. Our partnerships with local centers and family childcare providers aim to meet the needs of families in accessible childcare programs. Reaching child development goals: we ensure children meet or exceed developmental goals, including imagination, emotions, curiosity, and initiative. Connecting children to health care: we strengthen the coordination of health care services and resources to ensure children and their families receive high-quality health, oral health, nutrition, and mental health services that support children's health and school readiness. Ensuring quality education: we ensure childcare providers adhere to best practices regarding compliance, safety, and overall development environments for young people. Increasing family engagement and wellbeing: we focus on culturally and linguistically responsive relationship-building with key family members in a child's life, including pregnant women, expectant families, mothers, fathers, grandparents, and other adult caregivers. We honor and support parent-child relationships that are central to a child's healthy development, school readiness, and wellbeing. We also offer holistic and wrap-around support to parents and caretakers, including food assistance, mental or physical healthcare, transportation assistance, workforce training, or referrals to other agencies to address immediate needs. Unleashing youth and family potential: child and adult food programs the child and adult care food program (cacfp), also known as the "tummy nutrition program," at ywca metropolitan chicago provides essential nutrition education to support teachers, parents, and children in making healthier food choices. Through culturally sensitive and accessible group and individual training sessions, tummy promotes a comprehensive approach to wellness, focusing on meal planning, purchasing, and food preparation, while addressing obesity prevention. The ywca reimburses childcare providers for nutritious meals served to low- and middle-income children, supplementing the income of these small business owners. In 2024, the program enrolled 2,109 children through 219 providers, delivering nearly 1.3 million nutritious meals and snacks over the past year. Ywca staff visit child care centers and home-based providers to offer training in cooking and nutrition skills, ensuring healthy meals for children. In 2024, nearly 550 center visits were conducted. Healthy eating is crucial for children's health, growth, and development, reducing the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and cancers. Post-covid-19, ywca staff and partners observed an increase in bmis among head start-enrolled children. In april 2023, 35% of these children were identified as overweight or obese, highlighting the importance of providing healthy snacks and meals at child care centers, which may be the only nutritious meals some children receive.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 85%; rating input score 85
• Program expense ratio: 83.7%; rating input score 84
• Fundraising efficiency: $22.15 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
  • Compensation committee: Pass
  • Independent consultant: Pass
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Missing
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 97.4%; rating input score 97; 27th percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 97.8%; rating input score 98; 31st percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
  • 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: Fail
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -0.7%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.84; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.43; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 5.8%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 13.3% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 11% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings