Arkansas Children's
Legal name: Arkansas Children's Northwest Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 810817660
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2015–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Aug 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Little Rock, AR, USA
- Phone
- 479-725-6800
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Hospital, General
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $143,919,403
- Expenses
- $131,328,404
- Assets
- $258,674,305
- Liabilities
- $83,870,508
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
32 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MARCELLA DODERER (PRESIDENT AND CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- MARCELLA DODERER (PRESIDENT AND CEO): $2,712,312 total reported compensation
- GENA WINGFIELD (EVP/CFO): $1,038,252 total reported compensation
- JAMIE WIGGINS (EVP/COO): $967,991 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We're focused on improving child health through exceptional patient care, groundbreaking research, continuing education, and outreach and prevention.
What it reported doing in 2024
Arkansas children's northwest (acnw) is a pediatric hospital located in springdale, Arkansas that opened on february 27, 2018. The hospital includes inpatient beds, emergency care, diagnostic services and clinic space. The 37-acre campus includes nature trails and gardens for patients and their families. During the year ended june 30, 2025, acnw's utilization was as follows: 4,715 admissions with an average stay of 1.97 days; 8,624 patient days; 23.6 average daily census; 92,768 outpatient visits, excluding er visits which were 46,164; and 6,749 surgeries. Continued on schedule o.acnw, the first and only pediatric hospital in the northwest Arkansas region, is a level iv pediatric trauma center. Acnw operates an inpatient unit that will expand in 2026; a surgical unit with five operating rooms; outpatient clinics offering over 20 subspecialties; diagnostic services; imaging capabilities; occupational therapy services; and northwest Arkansas' only pediatric emergency department.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 87% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- 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.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Liabilities are high compared with assets and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 71
- Transparency & Controls: 87
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 63
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 75.7%; rating input score 76
- Program expense ratio: 84.7%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- 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: 99.8%; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 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: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 8.7%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.97; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.32; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.1%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 22.3% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 19.2% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.1% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 75.7% of revenue deployed · 84.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 15 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $111.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $2.7M · 32 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $19.4M reported
- Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
- Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 11 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 10 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 53/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 53/100.