A Call to College

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
311333812
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Newark, OH, USA
Phone
7406707424
Rating
93
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Scholarships, Student Financial Aid Services, Awards

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,154,232
Expenses
$1,828,669
Assets
$22,788,206
Liabilities
$3,219

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • TARA HOUDESHELL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • TARA HOUDESHELL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $128,706 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Actc's mission is to assure every newark city schools student the opportunity to pursue and complete education after high school. Working with the newark city schools district and students, actc promotes early awareness for post high school education; provides assistance with preparing high school juniors and seniors for college entrance exams; provides financial aid counseling for college and need-based scholarship grants; provides assistance to high school seniors in completing college admissions applications and submitting the fafsa (free application for federal student aid); planning to provide retention assistance to college students.

What it reported doing in 2025

The alumni and scholarship program funds needs based college expenses for graduates of newark city schools. In academic year 2025-2026, 27.5 volunteer hours were provided by 34 community members and newark city schools teacher partners to support alumni programming. In academic year 2025-2026, newark city schools graduates were awarded grants and scholarships, distributed as follows: 318 students were awarded $581,382 in last dollar grants; 20 students were awarded $170,685 in marion d. Wetzel a call to college scholarships; 4 students were awarded $2,000 in jane mcconnell a call to college scholarships; and 1 student was awarded $2,000 in louis a. Mitchell a call to college scholar athlete scholarship.a call to college [actc] continues its collaboration with the marion wetzel trust, park national bank trustee [trust] wherein the trust is a type iii non-functionally integrated supporting organization, as described in reg. 1.509(a)-4(i), of actc. The purpose of this collaboration is to further the support of the dr. Marion d. Wetzel scholarship which funds needs based college expenses for graduates of newark [Ohio] high school. A call to college [actc] has implemented a collaboration with the newark campus to add a new retention assistance program for continuing college students.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 41% for direct work, and 59% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 94
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 86
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 87%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $64.5 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 83; 83rd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 56%; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 12.46; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.8% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.5% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 87% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $129K · 17 people listed
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 45/100.