Big Wonder Child Care

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
882362980
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
St Paul, MN, USA
Phone
6124650074
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Child Day Care

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$575,814
Expenses
$468,076
Assets
$120,202
Liabilities
$60,406

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • EMILY NORTHEY (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • CELESTE FINN (Executive Dir.): $63,763 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 honor the unique rights of children, families, and teachers to create a just and harmonious community. Big Wonder is committed to equity and race consciousness. We serve families of different races, family structures, religious beliefs, and social-economic backgrounds. We are inspired by Reggio Emilia, Montessori, and spiritual inquiry frameworks to provide high-quality education for our youngest learners. We create and model innovative methods to find sustainable solutions to improve early childhood education.

What it reported doing in 2024

During the 2024-25 school year, we served 52 children and provided exceptionally high-quality care. We provided living wages, professional development, and growth opportunities to full-time teachers, and we gave scholarships and tuition to families who demonstrated financial need.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 81% 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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 74
  • Sustainability: 44
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 74.1%; rating input score 74
  • Program expense ratio: 91.1%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: $13.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings

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: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 18.7%; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.26; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.5; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13.6%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 68.4% per year; rating input score 100; 97th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 90.1% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 119.5% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 74.1% of revenue deployed · 91.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 7 board members independent · 4 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $427K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $64K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 2 filing years from 2023 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 46/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 16/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 26/100.