Bright Lights Early Learning Center
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 934523778
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2025–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2024
- Location
- Denver, CO, USA
- Phone
- 7209855731
- Rating
- 64
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Kindergarten, Preschool, Nursery School, Early Admissions
- Affiliation
- Judaism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $697,533
- Expenses
- $581,353
- Assets
- $136,587
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
People named in this filing
- SCHNEUR ZALMAN POPACK (OFFICER)
- YITZCHOK LERMAN (OFFICER)
- NAFTALI SPIELMAN (OFFICER)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Bright lights early learning center is a play based early learning center near dowtown denver. Providing an emergent, reggio inspired and value based curriculum drawn from traditional jewish values.
What it reported doing in 2025
Bright lights early learning center is a play-based early learning center near downtown denver. Providing an emergent, reggio inspired and value based cirriculum drawn from traditional jewish values.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 80% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 83% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 79
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 0
- Sustainability: 55
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 83.3%; rating input score 83
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
- 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: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 16.7%; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.23; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: 143.8% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 148% per year; rating input score 100; 100th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 83.3% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 0 of 3 board members independent · 0 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $581K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 13 of 13 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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.
- High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 6 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.