Smart Policy Works

Chicago, IL
Tax-exempt since Feb. 1997
EIN: 36-4042562

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This organization is not listed in the IRS's most recent list of tax exempt organizations, but we have data associated with this Employer Identification Number.

Type of Nonprofit

Designated as a 501(c)(3) Organizations for any of the following purposes: religious, educational, charitable, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering national or international amateur sports competition (as long as it doesn't provide athletic facilities or equipment), or the prevention of cruelty to children or animals.

Category: Public, Society Benefit — Multipurpose and Other / Alliance/Advocacy Organizations (NTEE)

Revenue

$960k (2019)

Expenses

$1.39M (2019)

Total Assets

$623k (2019)

Total Liabilities

$221k (2019)

Source: Form 990 tax filings from 2010 to 2019

Tax Filings by Year

Form 990 is an information return that most organizations claiming federal tax-exempt status must file yearly with the IRS. Nonprofit Explorer has IRS digitized Form 990 data for filings processed in 2012 and later. If this organization filed an amended return, it may not be reflected below. Duplicate download links may indicate a resubmission or amendment to this organization's original return. Form 990 data is from the IRS.

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2019

Revenue

$959,919

Expenses

$1,390,489

Net Income

-$430,570

Net Assets

$402,828

Notable Sources of Revenue		Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions	$543,232	56.6%
Program Services	$298,330	31.1%
Investment Income	$27,675	2.9%
Bond Proceeds	$0
Royalties	$0
Rental Property Income	$61,471	6.4%
Net Fundraising	$5,820	0.6%
Sales of Assets	$20,893	2.2%
Net Inventory Sales	$0
Other Revenue	$2,498	0.3%

Notable Expenses		Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation	$149,054	10.7%
Professional Fundraising Fees	$0
Other Salaries and Wages	$460,672	33.1%

Assets/Debt
Total Assets	$623,440
Total Liabilities	$220,612
Net Assets	$402,828

Compensation

Key Employees and Officers	Compensation	Related	Other
Barbara Otto (Ceo)	$121,780	$0	$27,274
Dr Teresa Garate (President/Chair)	$0	$0	$0
Fil Guipoco (Vice President/Secretary)	$0	$0	$0
David Reed (Treasurer)	$0	$0	$0
Aditya Burman (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Deila Davis (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Gilbert Lichstein (Director)	$0	$0	$0
David Rieser (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Kimberly Walz (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Sodiqa Williams (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Linda Bathgate (Director)	$0	$0	$0

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990

Filed on Nov. 12, 2020

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

View Filing

Schedules ▼

PDF XML

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2018

Revenue

$1,805,291

Expenses

$1,592,444

Net Income

$212,847

Net Assets

$819,580

Notable Sources of Revenue		Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions	$1,569,667	86.9%
Program Services	$91,409	5.1%
Investment Income	$22,087	1.2%
Bond Proceeds	$0
Royalties	$0
Rental Property Income	$66,117	3.7%
Net Fundraising	$0
Sales of Assets	$55,372	3.1%
Net Inventory Sales	$0
Other Revenue	$567	0.0%

Notable Expenses		Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation	$190,675	12.0%
Professional Fundraising Fees	$0
Other Salaries and Wages	$589,566	37.0%

Assets/Debt
Total Assets	$1,414,830
Total Liabilities	$595,250
Net Assets	$819,580

990

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

PDF

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2017

Revenue

$1,052,669

Expenses

$1,486,859

Net Income

-$434,190

Net Assets

$717,862

Notable Sources of Revenue		Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions	$549,299	52.2%
Program Services	$372,703	35.4%
Investment Income	$37,036	3.5%
Bond Proceeds	$0
Royalties	$0
Rental Property Income	$55,923	5.3%
Net Fundraising	$0
Sales of Assets	$32,144	3.1%
Net Inventory Sales	$0
Other Revenue	$5,564	0.5%

Notable Expenses		Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation	$165,620	11.1%
Professional Fundraising Fees	$0
Other Salaries and Wages	$566,828	38.1%

Assets/Debt
Total Assets	$1,344,659
Total Liabilities	$626,797
Net Assets	$717,862

Compensation

Key Employees and Officers	Compensation	Related	Other
Barbara Otto (Chief Executive Officer)	$148,207	$0	$12,264
Fil Guipoco (President New, Director)	$0	$0	$0
Dr Teresa Garate (Vice President, Director)	$0	$0	$0
Deila Davis (Treas New, Sec Past, Director)	$0	$0	$0
Linda Shapiro (Secretary New, Director)	$0	$0	$0
David Reed (President Past, Director)	$0	$0	$0
Eric Lipp (Treasurer Past, Director)	$0	$0	$0
Linda Gilmore Bathgate (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Aditya Burman (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Lisa Schmitz Mazur (Director New)	$0	$0	$0

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990

Filed on Oct. 3, 2018

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

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Schedules ▼

PDF XML

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2016

Revenue

$1,249,680

Expenses

$1,443,148

Net Income

-$193,468

Net Assets

$1,262,969

Notable Sources of Revenue		Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions	$1,021,090	81.7%
Program Services	$148,390	11.9%
Investment Income	$24,996	2.0%
Bond Proceeds	$0
Royalties	$0
Rental Property Income	$40,962	3.3%
Net Fundraising	$0
Sales of Assets	$11,215	0.9%
Net Inventory Sales	$0
Other Revenue	$3,027	0.2%

Notable Expenses		Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation	$131,546	9.1%
Professional Fundraising Fees	$0
Other Salaries and Wages	$637,486	44.2%

Assets/Debt
Total Assets	$1,890,826
Total Liabilities	$627,857
Net Assets	$1,262,969

Compensation

Key Employees and Officers	Compensation	Related	Other
Barbara Otto (Chief Executive Officer)	$130,476	$0	$1,069
David Reed (President)	$0	$0	$0
Dr Teresa Garate (Vice President See Schedule O)	$0	$0	$0
Eric Lipp (Vice President See Schedule O)	$0	$0	$0
Eric Lipp (Treasurer See Schedule O)	$0	$0	$0
Patrick Gallagher (Treasurer See Schedule O)	$0	$0	$0
Deila Davis (Secretary See Schedule O)	$0	$0	$0
Fil Guipoco (Secretary See Schedule O)	$0	$0	$0
Linda Gilmore Bathgate (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Patrick Gallagher (Director See Schedule O)	$0	$0	$0
Fil Guipoco (Director See Schedule O)	$0	$0	$0
Linda Shapiro (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Aditya Burman (Director See Schedule O)	$0	$0	$0
Dr Teresa Garate (Director See Schedule O)	$0	$0	$0
Deila Davis (Director See Schedule O)	$0	$0	$0

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990

Filed on Oct. 10, 2017

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

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Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2015

Revenue

$1,478,806

Expenses

$1,779,358

Net Income

-$300,552

Net Assets

$1,481,796

Notable Sources of Revenue		Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions	$1,226,855	83.0%
Program Services	$185,318	12.5%
Investment Income	$52,606	3.6%
Bond Proceeds	$0
Royalties	$0
Rental Property Income	$2,000	0.1%
Net Fundraising	$0
Sales of Assets	$3,259	0.2%
Net Inventory Sales	$0
Other Revenue	$8,768	0.6%

Notable Expenses		Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation	$261,128	14.7%
Professional Fundraising Fees	$56,012	3.1%
Other Salaries and Wages	$786,360	44.2%

Assets/Debt
Total Assets	$1,970,799
Total Liabilities	$489,003
Net Assets	$1,481,796

Compensation

Key Employees and Officers	Compensation	Related	Other
Barbara Otto (Chief Executive Officer)	$125,729	$0	$5,673
Seomara Sanabria (Finance Director)	$66,736	$0	$14,510
Adrienne Hiegel (Chief Operating Officer)	$48,130	$0	$350
David Reed (President)	$0	$0	$0
Eric Lipp (Vice President)	$0	$0	$0
Fil Guipoco (Secretary)	$0	$0	$0
Patrick Gallagher (Treasurer)	$0	$0	$0
Linda Gilmore Bathgate (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Willard Dumas (Director/Audit Commitee Chair)	$0	$0	$0
Jeryl Levin (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Dr Teresa Garate (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Deila Davis (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Linda Diamond Shapiro (Director)	$0	$0	$0

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990

Filed on Oct. 7, 2016

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

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Schedules ▼

PDF XML

PDF (2 of 2)

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2014

Revenue

$1,398,604

Expenses

$2,148,378

Net Income

-$749,774

Net Assets

$1,844,878

Notable Sources of Revenue		Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions	$851,584	60.9%
Program Services	$424,609	30.4%
Investment Income	$79,676	5.7%
Bond Proceeds	$0
Royalties	$0
Rental Property Income	$15,000	1.1%
Net Fundraising	$0
Sales of Assets	$10,241	0.7%
Net Inventory Sales	$0
Other Revenue	$17,494	1.3%

Notable Expenses		Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation	$230,061	10.7%
Professional Fundraising Fees	$0
Other Salaries and Wages	$839,954	39.1%

Assets/Debt
Total Assets	$2,134,645
Total Liabilities	$289,767
Net Assets	$1,844,878

Compensation

Key Employees and Officers	Compensation	Related	Other
Barbara Otto (Chief Executive Officer)	$113,556	$0	$5,265
Seomara Sanabria (Finance Director)	$67,152	$0	$15,460
Adrienne Hiegel (Chief Operating Officer)	$28,407	$0	$220
David Reed (President)	$0	$0	$0
Eric Lipp (Vice President)	$0	$0	$0
Fil Guipoco (Secretary)	$0	$0	$0
Patrick Gallagher (Treasurer)	$0	$0	$0
Linda Gilmore Bathgate (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Willard Dumas (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Jeryl Levin (Director)	$0	$0	$0

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990

Filed on Nov. 13, 2015

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

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Schedules ▼

PDF XML

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2013

Revenue

$3,281,104

Expenses

$3,150,560

Net Income

$130,544

Net Assets

$2,697,358

Notable Sources of Revenue		Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions	$2,131,721	65.0%
Program Services	$1,051,954	32.1%
Investment Income	$49,971	1.5%
Bond Proceeds	$0
Royalties	$0
Rental Property Income	$0
Net Fundraising	$0
Sales of Assets	$38,747	1.2%
Net Inventory Sales	$0
Other Revenue	$8,711	0.3%

Notable Expenses		Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation	$217,172	6.9%
Professional Fundraising Fees	$0
Other Salaries and Wages	$1,711,765	54.3%

Assets/Debt
Total Assets	$2,876,828
Total Liabilities	$179,470
Net Assets	$2,697,358

Compensation

Key Employees and Officers	Compensation	Related	Other
Barbara Otto (Chief Executive Officer)	$129,895	$0	$6,947
Sue Augustus (Chief Operating Officer)	$123,886	$0	$11,470
Thomas D Yates (General Counsel)	$123,430	$0	$17,507
Stephanie Altman (Program & Policy Director)	$114,273	$0	$17,606
John Coburn (Sr. Policy Atty/Trng Direc)	$106,480	$0	$6,947
Amy Zimmerman (Program Director)	$102,861	$0	$20,121
Seomara Sanabria (Finance Director)	$70,992	$0	$19,986
Richard F Kotz Esq (Treasurer)	$0	$0	$0
Fil Guipoco (Secretary)	$0	$0	$0
Eric Lipp (Vice President)	$0	$0	$0
Willard Dumas (Director)	$0	$0	$0
David Reed (President)	$0	$0	$0
Linda Gilmore Bathgate (Director)	$0	$0	$0
Ed Kraus (Co Treasurer)	$0	$0	$0
Jeryl Levin (Director)	$0	$0	$0

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990

Filed on Nov. 14, 2014

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

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Schedules ▼

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Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2012

Revenue

$2,100,848

Expenses

$3,264,247

Net Income

-$1,163,399

Net Assets

$2,388,145

Notable Sources of Revenue		Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions	$673,969	32.1%
Program Services	$1,388,103	66.1%
Investment Income	$52,681	2.5%
Bond Proceeds	$0
Royalties	$0
Rental Property Income	$0
Net Fundraising	-$5,500
Sales of Assets	-$9,146
Net Inventory Sales	$0
Other Revenue	$741	0.0%

Notable Expenses		Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation	$225,230	6.9%
Professional Fundraising Fees	$0
Other Salaries and Wages	$1,773,044	54.3%

Assets/Debt
Total Assets	$2,738,946
Total Liabilities	$350,801
Net Assets	$2,388,145

990

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

PDF

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2011

Revenue

$4,766,670

Expenses

$3,384,126

Net Income

$1,382,544

Net Assets

$3,468,080

Notable Sources of Revenue		Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions	$2,373,291	49.8%
Program Services	$2,345,449	49.2%
Investment Income	$48,020	1.0%
Bond Proceeds	$0
Royalties	$0
Rental Property Income	$0
Net Fundraising	$0
Sales of Assets	-$2,074
Net Inventory Sales	$0
Other Revenue	$1,984	0.0%

Notable Expenses		Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation	$250,181	7.4%
Professional Fundraising Fees	$0
Other Salaries and Wages	$1,696,499	50.1%

Assets/Debt
Total Assets	$4,274,076
Total Liabilities	$805,996
Net Assets	$3,468,080

990

Primary tax return for a nonprofit’s activities, finances, and governance

PDF

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2010

Revenue

$3,068,150

Expenses

$3,004,089

Net Income

$64,061

Net Assets

$2,121,735

Notable Sources of Revenue		Percent of Total Revenue
Contributions	$883,380	28.8%
Program Services	$2,099,363	68.4%
Investment Income	$51,997	1.7%
Bond Proceeds	$0
Royalties	$0
Rental Property Income	$0
Net Fundraising	$0
Sales of Assets	$32,311	1.1%
Net Inventory Sales	$0
Other Revenue	$1,099	0.0%

Notable Expenses		Percent of Total Expenses
Executive Compensation	$226,463	7.5%
Professional Fundraising Fees	$0
Other Salaries and Wages	$1,452,821	48.4%

Assets/Debt
Total Assets	$4,478,449
Total Liabilities	$2,356,714
Net Assets	$2,121,735

Nonprofit Explorer includes summary data for nonprofit tax returns and full Form 990 documents, in both PDF and digital formats.

The summary data contains information processed by the IRS during the 2012-2019 calendar years; this generally consists of filings for the 2011-2018 fiscal years, but may include older records. This data release includes only a subset of what can be found in the full Form 990s.

In addition to the raw summary data, we link to PDFs and digital copies of full Form 990 documents wherever possible. This consists of separate releases by the IRS of Form 990 documents processed by the agency, which we update regularly.

We also link to copies of audits nonprofit organizations that spent $750,000 or more in Federal grant money in a single fiscal year since 2016. These audits are copied from the Federal Audit Clearinghouse.

Which Organizations Are Here?

Every organization that has been recognized as tax exempt by the IRS has to file Form 990 every year, unless they make less than $200,000 in revenue and have less than $500,000 in assets, in which case they have to file form 990-EZ. Organizations making less than $50,000 don’t have to file either form but do have to let the IRS they’re still in business via a Form 990N "e-Postcard."

Nonprofit Explorer has organizations claiming tax exemption in each of the 27 subsections of the 501(c) section of the tax code, and which have filed a Form 990, Form 990EZ or Form 990PF. Taxable trusts and private foundations that are required to file a form 990PF are also included. Small organizations filing a Form 990N "e-Postcard" are not included in this data.

Types of Nonprofits

There are 27 nonprofit designations based on the numbered subsections of section 501(c) of the tax code. See the list »

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Raw filing data. Includes EINs and summary financials as structured data.
Exempt Organization profiles. Includes organization names, addresses, etc. You can merge this with the raw filing data using EIN numbers.
Form 990 documents. Prior to 2017, these documents were obtained and processed by Public.Resource.org and ProPublica. Bulk PDF downloads since 2017 are available from the IRS.
Form 990 documents as XML files. Includes complete filing data (financial details, names of officers, tax schedules, etc.) in machine-readable format. Only available for electronically filed documents. Electronic data released prior to October 2021 is also available through Amazon Web Services.
Audits. PDFs of single or program-specific audits for nonprofit organizations that spent $750,000 or more in Federal grant money in a single fiscal year. Available for fiscal year 2015 and later.

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Updated March 23, 2026

Smart Policy Works

Organization summary

Organization summary might be incomplete or out of date

Type of Nonprofit

Summary charts: organization finances over time

Revenue $960k (2019)

Expenses $1.39M (2019)

Total Assets $623k (2019)

Total Liabilities $221k (2019)

Tax Filings by Year

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2019

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990

Compensation

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2018

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2017

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990

Compensation

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2016

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990

Compensation

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2015

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990

Compensation

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2014

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990

Compensation

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2013

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990

Compensation

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2012

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2011

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2010

Extracted Financial Data

Extracted Financial Data from Form 990

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2009

No Extracted Financial Data

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2008

No Extracted Financial Data

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2007

No Extracted Financial Data

Document Links

990

Fiscal Year Ending Dec. 2006

No Extracted Financial Data

Revenue

$960k (2019)

Expenses

$1.39M (2019)

Total Assets

$623k (2019)

Total Liabilities

$221k (2019)

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2019

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2018

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2017

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2016

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2015

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2014

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2013

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2012

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2011

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2010

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2009

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2008

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2007

Fiscal Year Ending Dec.
2006

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2005

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