American Federation for Children Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 330627955
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Columbia, MD, USA
- Phone
- 2022801990
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Alliance/Advocacy Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $11,825,233
- Expenses
- $10,808,906
- Assets
- $6,313,490
- Liabilities
- $913,278
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
17 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- THOMAS SCHULTZ (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
Highest reported compensation
- THOMAS SCHULTZ (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $427,942 total reported compensation
- RYAN CANTRELL (VP GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS): $368,294 total reported compensation
- ELISA CLEMENTS LINDE (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $368,122 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 empower families, especially lower-income families, with the freedom to choose the best k-12 education for their children.
What it reported doing in 2024
Communications: develop and distribute research and policy material to educate policymakers, state and local leaders, media and general public about the need for, and success of, school choice; develop and mobilize at the grassroots level to show support for school choice; conduct print, broadcast, digital, and social media activities to promote school choice around the country.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 98% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 90% 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 84
- Accountability: 84
- Sustainability: 44
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 76.1%; rating input score 76
- Program expense ratio: 82.4%; rating input score 82
- Fundraising efficiency: $19.52 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 56; 56th 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: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 99.9%; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- 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: 8.6%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.58; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.14; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 24.6%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 76.1% of revenue deployed · 82.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 8 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $8.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $428K · 17 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $840K reported
- Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 22 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 19 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 56/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 19/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 2/100.