Arkansas Children's

Legal name: Arkansas Children's Research Institute

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
710694931
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Jul 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Little Rock, AR, USA
Phone
501-364-1100
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$71,774,036
Expenses
$62,900,517
Assets
$82,520,855
Liabilities
$48,015,999

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

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARCELLA DODERER (PRESIDENT/CEO-AR CHILDREN'S)
  • PETE MOURANI MD (ACRI PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • MARCELLA DODERER (PRESIDENT/CEO-AR CHILDREN'S): $2,712,312 total reported compensation
  • GENA WINGFIELD (BOARD TREASURER/EVP/CFO-AR CHILDRENS): $1,038,252 total reported compensation
  • RICK BARR MD (EVP/CCAO/CHAIR (PART YR)): $837,104 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

During fy25, Arkansas children's research institute (acri) received almost $70 million in grants and contracts from federal, state, and private agencies, industry sponsors, and philanthropic donations to support research to advance knowledge that will guide the way injury and illness are prevented and treated in children. Of the grants received, approximately one-third was from the national institute of health. In 2025, acri held the groundbreaking for the national center for opioid research & clinical effectiveness (ncor). Ncor will position Arkansas as a national leader in understanding the impacts of the opioid crisis on the fetus, newborn, and developing children. In addition, acri established a new critical care laboratory designed as an animal intensive care unit to provide clinical care just as a human patient would receive in the icu to support translational research, including projects involving sepsis, trauma, inflammation, and organ injury. Acri also expanded existing research core facilities including its metabolomics and analytical chemistry core. Overall, acri provided the research infrastructure to over 150 researchers who published their scientific findings in over 414 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles, of which 11% of the publications appeared in the top 10% ranking journals in 2025.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 61% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 70
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 80
  • Sustainability: 58
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 74.6%; rating input score 75
  • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 64.7%; rating input score 65; 18th 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: 12.4%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.31; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.58; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.9%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
  • Where the money goes: 74.6% of revenue deployed · 84.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 17 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $53.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $2.7M · 23 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $26.8M reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 10 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.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 27/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 30/100.