C5 Childrens School
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 942975386
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- San Francisco, CA, USA
- Phone
- 4157031277
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,491,981
- Expenses
- $2,882,474
- Assets
- $4,932,208
- Liabilities
- $2,463,738
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Sarah Gawley (President)
- Jill Targonski (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- Asako McGee (Executive Dir.): $110,687 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
C5 children's school is a school in san francisco, California, where educators work alongside to facilitate young children's optimal development and learning in a safe, supportive, and enriched environment. Our primary goal is to provide and continuously improve child development and education services of the highest quality in a climate of care and respect for children ages 6 weeks to 6 years and their families facilitating an exemplary program of early care and education.
What it reported doing in 2024
C5 Childrens School operates two early learning and childcare centers located at 525 Golden Gate Avenue and 49 South Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco, California. The organization provides licensed early care and education services for children from infancy through pre-kindergarten, serving families in the Civic Center community, including public-sector employees and residents.More than 50% of enrolled children receive subsidized tuition support through public funding programs, including San Franciscos Early Learning for All (ELFA) initiative. By maintaining a majority of subsidized enrollment, C5 advances equitable access to high-quality early education for low- and moderate-income families.C5s educational approach is grounded in Reggio Emilia philosophy and approach. The program implements a child-centered, inquiry-based emergent curriculum in which childrens interests, questions, and developmental needs guide the learning process. Educators collaborate with children as capable and active participants in their own learning, fostering critical thinking, creativity, and social-emotional development.Daily programming includes open-ended, project-based explorations that support cognitive, language, physical, and social development. Classrooms are designed to promote hands-on discovery, reflective practice, and meaningful relationships among children, teachers, and families.Through its programs, C5 Childrens School advances school readiness, supports working families, and contributes to the broader early childhood education field by modeling developmentally appropriate practices.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 70% 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and program spending has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 71
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 30
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 84.1%; rating input score 84
- Program expense ratio: 72.7%; rating input score 73
- 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: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -15.7%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.71; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.5; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.8%; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -1.7% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 0.2% per year; rating input score 100; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 15.6% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 84.1% of revenue deployed · 72.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $111K · 11 people listed
- Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
- 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.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Board meeting minutes documented not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 56/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.