Barnwell County First Steps to School Readiness Partnership

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
571097778
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2023
Forms available
Form 990 2023, Form 990-EZ 2009
Location
Greenwood, SC, USA
Phone
8034501493
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$794,402
Expenses
$722,204
Assets
$227,290
Liabilities
$97,576

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • TRICIA GORDON (EXECUTIVE DI): $44,617 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Our mission is to provide early childhood education programs designed to ensure that barnwell county children arrive at first grade healthy and ready to succeed.

What it reported doing in 2023

Child care quality-first steps assists child care providers through training programs certified through sc endeavors and include topics in the areas of nutrition, health and safety, curriculum, child guidance, professional development and program administration. Additionally, the child care quality enhancement program aims to produce measurable improvements in the quality of care provided to young children. Also, first steps provides scholarships to high quality child care programs for eligible families so their families can return to work or school.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 75% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 35
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.6%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 96.3%; rating input score 96
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • 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: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 9.1%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.31; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.43; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: Limited

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.4% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.6% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87.6% of revenue deployed · 96.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $696K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $45K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2010 to 2023
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 14/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.