Cal Ripken Sr Foundation
Legal name: Cal Ripken Sr Foundation Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 522310500
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Jun 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Baltimore, MD, USA
- Phone
- 4108230043
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Education N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $28,438,019
- Expenses
- $25,680,610
- Assets
- $28,355,145
- Liabilities
- $5,682,026
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
64 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- STEPHAN SALEM (PRESIDENT & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- STEPHAN SALEM (PRESIDENT & CEO): $835,572 total reported compensation
- CARRIE LEBOW (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $439,103 total reported compensation
- CHARLES BRADY (SR. VP, STRATEGIC INITIATIVES): $387,484 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation helps to strengthen America5s most underserved and distressed communities by supporting and advocating for children, building Youth Development Parks, partnering with law enforcement and youth service agencies, giving kids access to STEM education, and addressing community needs through our national program initiatives.
What it reported doing in 2024
Provide cash and equipment funding to organizations working with youth in their communities. The foundation also engages law enforcement officials in these and other communities (including the u.s. Marshals service) to act as mentors and coaches for youth as part of the foundation's "badges for baseball" program. The goal is to display law enforcement officials as friends and positive role models, not people who youth only become engaged with in troubled times. In addition, through our national stem initiative, we give youth access to elementary and middle school stem education. In each ripken stem center program, we provide educational stem products; technology; training for educators/mentors; curriculum and lesson plans, and furniture at schools and community-based organizations across the country.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 71% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 94% 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 74
- Transparency & Controls: 74
- Accountability: 98
- Sustainability: 51
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 74.1%; rating input score 74
- Program expense ratio: 81.3%; rating input score 81
- Fundraising efficiency: $18.82 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 61.9%; rating input score 62; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 95.9%; rating input score 96; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 9.7%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.1; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 14.6%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.3% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 7 programs and campaigns described on the official site
- Where the money goes: 74.1% of revenue deployed · 81.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 47 of 49 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $20.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $836K · 64 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $8.7M reported
- Consistency: 39 of 40 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 63 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 44 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 55/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.