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Illinois · Nonprofit

Compass for Kids Inc

Compass for Kids Inc (Illinois) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,431,043 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS INC ($1,533,034). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$2.7M
Funders on record
26
Grants received
$2.4M
Net assets
$2.0M
14/26 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 46%
01What it does

What Compass for Kids Inc does

Mission

The mission of Compass for Kids is to provide academic and social-emotional support to empower children and families underserved by our community.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Camp Compass is a free summer learning program for low-income, underserved, elementary students of Springfield Public Schools - District 186. Camp Compass is designed to prevent summer learning loss and improve reading and math skills. The overarching purpose is to reduce the achievement gap that exists between low-income students and their higher-income peers by bringing students up to grade level academically. Camp Compass is a hybrid between a summer school and a camp. On one hand, Camp Compass is an academic intervention where licensed teachers instruct the students three hours per day, five days per week, for the six weeks of camp. In addition, Camp Compass incorporates enrichment activities and field trips for a fun camp-like environment. These enrichment experiences address the opportunity gap in addition to the academic achievement gap. Transportation to and from the program, breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon snack, and weekend food are provided.

    $1,219,464 spent$1,313,054 earned by the program
    76% of program spending
  2. Club Compass is a weekly program for low-income, underserved, elementary students in Springfield Public Schools - District 186. Club Compass pairs volunteer mentors with the students and teaches them social-emotional and life skills in a safe, structured, positive environment. Club Compass is currently serving students from five schools: Black Hawk, Dubois, Graham, Harvard Park, and McClernand. Club Compass has a volunteer driven, community based model. Each school Club Compass serves is paired with two or more community partners, which host the Club Compass site for their neighborhood school. Each Club Compass site has the same major components: snack, an evidence-based social-emotional curriculum lesson, academic time, Life Skills classes, and a healthy, family-style dinner. Club Compass is free to participating students. All students are selected and referred by their school.

    $253,436 spent
    16% of program spending
  3. Youth Leadership Development Program is designed to provide middle and high school alumni of Club Compass the opportunity to develop as leaders, and be prepared for college, vocational / trade school, the military, and/or to enter the workforce. The ultimate goal is for these youths to graduate from high school and be ready to achieve their dreams.

    $135,263 spent
    8% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,608,163.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($293k) Expenses 100 ($200k) Net assets 100 ($92k)2018 Revenue 204 ($597k) Expenses 158 ($316k) Net assets 405 ($374k)2019 Revenue 160 ($469k) Expenses 230 ($462k) Net assets 413 ($381k)2020 Revenue 319 ($933k) Expenses 397 ($796k) Net assets 561 ($518k)2021 Revenue 366 ($1.1M) Expenses 447 ($895k) Net assets 753 ($694k)2022 Revenue 418 ($1.2M) Expenses 501 ($1.0M) Net assets 991 ($914k)2023 Revenue 522 ($1.5M) Expenses 694 ($1.4M) Net assets 1138 ($1.0M)2024 Revenue 764 ($2.2M) Expenses 1014 ($2.0M) Net assets 1433 ($1.3M)2025 Revenue 922 ($2.7M) Expenses 1014 ($2.0M) Net assets 2158 ($2.0M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (922)Expenses (1014)Net assets (2158)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $1.4M to $2.0M (+45%).

$141k
$417k
$404k
$598k
$788k
$976k
$1.1M
$1.4M
$2.0M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

How it's funded, over time

Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

48% of Compass for Kids Inc’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (82% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 2,035 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$92k
’17
$281k
’18
$8k
’19
$137k
’20
$176k
’21
$220k
’22
$136k
’23
$205k
’24
$666k
’25
9.4
months of
reserve

Leadership and staff

The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.

Chief executive

Molly Berendt

CEO

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed131617171414161918
Joined·+6+4+4+3+4+7+5+5
No longer listed·33464526
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 8 funders, grant income rose $26k → $375k.

7 of 26 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 6% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.

From the IRS filings of Compass for Kids Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How concentrated its funding is

Compass for Kids Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 63% of grant income and the top three 86%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

72% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund Compass for Kids Inc.

63%
largest funder
86%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 98% · 2019 96% · 2020 94% · 2021 94% · 2022 71% · 2023 45% — diversifying over time.

“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How long its funders stay

43% of Compass for Kids Inc's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.

Where its funders are

94% of Compass for Kids Inc's grant income comes from Illinois funders.

IL
WI
NY
CT
NE
TN
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Illinois out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $136k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Compass for Kids Inc runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 1,064 youth development nonprofits its size.

Operating margin25% · top quartile
Months of reserve9.4mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)32% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,064 youth development nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like Compass for Kids Inc

Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.

In Illinois

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

79% of spending goes to programs.

Program 79%Management 14%Fundraising 7%

Governance

18
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

94%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

IL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Compass for Kids Inc: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.

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Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf

Questions and answers

Who funds Compass for Kids Inc?
Compass for Kids Inc (Illinois) receives grants from 26 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,431,043 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS INC ($1,533,034). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Compass for Kids Inc have?
IRS filings report 26 organizations giving $2,431,043 in grants to Compass for Kids Inc, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Compass for Kids Inc?
UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,533,034 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Compass for Kids Inc find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 26 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing