Awaken Dreams Creative Learning Center

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
843017003
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2023
Forms available
Form 990 2023, Form 990-N 2020
Location
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$493,861
Expenses
$530,382
Assets
$10,499
Liabilities
$61,926

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • CarlyAnn Oquendo (PresidentCEO): $16,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Awaken dreams is a small non-profit school whose mission is to enrich students, teachers & community. Going back to basics in education allowing student o learn by doing and cultivting life long learners. The school is for early education for children from 2.5-7 years old.

What it reported doing in 2023

Serve enrolled pupils for the traditional school year and additional summer programming to achieve the organizations hands on educational purpose and mission. Serves children ages 2.5-7 years old preschool through 2nd grade.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 97% 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.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 18
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -7.4%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.02; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 5.9; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 54% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 54% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -9.3% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $530K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $16K · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 18 of 19 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2022 to 2023
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 27/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 3/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 1/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 35/100.
  • Review — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization could not be resolved against the register, so the check is unfinished.