Birth Roots Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 201803650
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020, Form 990-N 2010
- Location
- Portland, ME, USA
- Phone
- 2077724784
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Family Planning Centers
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $334,190
- Expenses
- $317,285
- Assets
- $421,888
- Liabilities
- $115,717
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- ASTRIDE JEANNOT (BOARD MEMBER): $615 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Since 2004, birth roots has addressed the harmful reality that early parenting and childhood experiences in the us are undervalued and under-resourced. Our classes, events, resource guides, and strategic partnerships serve our mission to create a culture of support for families that begins in pregnancy and remains throughout the critical window of early childhood development (ages 0-3). Strategies we employ include: implementing a community supported parenting model that builds relationships and skills in early parenthood; providing opportunities to critically examine the cultural, generational, and societal context in which we parent; and increasing Maine families' access to perinatal resources.
What it reported doing in 2025
Shared identities - the shared identity program at birth roots provides monthly facilitated peer support for parents who share key experiences or identities (like single parents, neurodiverse families, queer parents, parents of medically complex children, and fathers), intentionally fostering connection and belonging during perinatal and early parenthood stages. Launched in late 2023, these groups are tailored to the unique needs of parents and parents-to-be in underrepresented or under-supported identities. In 2025, we facilitated a total of 54 groups and received 566 family registrations.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 66
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 79
- Sustainability: 42
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 70.1%; rating input score 70
- Program expense ratio: 73.5%; rating input score 73
- Fundraising efficiency: $5.09 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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; 64th 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: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 5.1%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.33; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.27; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0.2%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 16.8% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 11.8% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 21.8% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 70.1% of revenue deployed · 73.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $233K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $615 · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
- 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: 3 of 7 not reported.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 21/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 47/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 48/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 14/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 35/100.