Advocates for Children of New York

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
112247307
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2129479779
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Legal Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$11,209,025
Expenses
$10,332,621
Assets
$24,541,573
Liabilities
$4,213,902

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

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KIMBERLY B SWEET (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • ERIC F GROSSMAN (President Emeritus)
  • JAMIE A LEVITT (Past President)
  • KIMBERLEY D HARRIS (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • KIMBERLY B SWEET (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $275,750 total reported compensation
  • ANNE KLEIN (DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS): $201,453 total reported compensation
  • JENNIFER C PRINGLE (PROJECT DIRECTOR, LIT): $192,145 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 ensure a high quality education for New York students who face barriers to academic success, focusing on students from low-income backgrounds.

What it reported doing in 2024

CASE ADVOCACY AND PARENT TRAINING- AFC offers a full range of free individual case advocacy and legal assistance to help young people obtain appropriate educational services. In addition, AFC provides training programs to assist and enable New York City parents and young people to negotiate the Department of Education's bureaucracy and receive the educational support they need to succeed. Training also is provided to school districts, child welfare offices, and other professionals to prepare them to advocate for the education-related needs of the children they serve.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 66% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 93% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
  • 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 58
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 75.7%; rating input score 76
  • Program expense ratio: 80.8%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.97 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 7.8%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.38; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.17; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.3%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.5% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 75.7% of revenue deployed · 80.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $8.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $276K · 23 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $342K reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 38 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 12 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 4 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 46/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.