Action for Children

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
310820393
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Columbus, OH, USA
Phone
6142440222
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$14,527,443
Expenses
$14,972,831
Assets
$5,342,376
Liabilities
$3,308,254

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Eric Karolak (CEO TO JUNE 2025)
  • Lisa Cochran (Past-President)
  • Dr Mary Kay Irwin (President)
  • Matt Sharp (Vice President)
  • TASHA BOOKER (CEO BEGINNING JANUARY 2025)

Highest reported compensation

  • Eric Karolak (CEO TO JUNE 2025): $163,252 total reported compensation
  • Stephanie McFadden (DIR. OF FINANCE): $106,873 total reported compensation
  • Natalie Atkins (DIR. OF ORG. ADVANCEMENT): $104,632 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To transform the lives of children by supporting, empowering, and advocating for the adults who make the biggest impact on children's lives-their parents, caregivers and teachers.

What it reported doing in 2024

Parents, guardians, and families - The Family and Community Engagement (FACE) Department continued to advance family centered services through community events, parent education, and strategic outreach across Central Ohio. The department hosted its annual Spring Fling, Back to School Family Fair, and Fall Fest, serving more than 800 families. These events, along with other community-based engagement efforts, provided families with access to child development resources, connections to community services, and opportunities to build relationships with staff and other families. Each event created a welcoming space where families accessed child development resources, community services, and built meaningful relationships with staff and one another. Across all FACE programs, the department supported 2,891 families in locating quality child care, connected 14,454 parents to Help Me Grow services, and provided over 1,600 parents with evidence-based/evidence-informed education, impacting 3,262 children. Through 3,433 home visits and 1,708 safe sleep interactions, the department met families where they were and helped them take the next step forward.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 93% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 57% for direct work, and 43% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 93
  • Transparency & Controls: 73
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 24
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 95.7%; rating input score 96
  • Program expense ratio: 92.8%; rating input score 93
  • Fundraising efficiency: $57.74 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • 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: 98.1%; rating input score 98; 29th 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; 66th 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: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -3.1%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.36; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.62; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.5%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 17.7% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 13% per year; rating input score 100; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 95.7% of revenue deployed · 92.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $13.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $163K · 16 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 38 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 28 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 25 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 21/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 10/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.