Aspire Living & Learning Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
030284103
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Montpelier, VT, USA
Phone
8022299515
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Residential Care & Adult Day Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$93,718,260
Expenses
$91,974,958
Assets
$55,807,966
Liabilities
$27,100,617

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

Leadership & pay

22 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Louis Giramma (Past Chief Executive Officer)
  • Erica Hare (Chief Executive Officer)

Highest reported compensation

  • Louis Giramma (Past Chief Executive Officer): $344,902 total reported compensation
  • Erica Hare (Chief Executive Officer): $251,257 total reported compensation
  • Judith Parrish (Chief People & Culture Officer): $219,002 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Aspire serves neurodiverse children and adults who are discovering their passions, unlocking potential, and thriving.

What it reported doing in 2024

Supports for Children - Behavioral Services: Aspire Living & Learning provides behavioral services for children aged 1 to 22 to reach their full potential. Whether at home, in a center-based setting, or in the community, children with an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis, developmental disabilities and/or behavior challenges receive highly individualized clinical intervention, such as applied behavior analysis and other treatment modalities in the setting that best works for them to achieve their goals.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 98% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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.
  • 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 37
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 88.5%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 90.7%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.41 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th 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: 1.9%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.61; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.49; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.3%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.9% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 88.5% of revenue deployed · 90.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $83.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $345K · 22 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.9M reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 7/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 42/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 37/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 51/100.