Chapter One
Legal name: Chapter One Nfp
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 363873652
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2015–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Odessa, FL, United States
- Phone
- 8009753452
- Rating
- 63
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Educational Services and Schools - Other
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $8,209,839
- Expenses
- $9,438,725
- Assets
- $1,269,543
- Liabilities
- $378,915
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- KIM WHITTEN (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
Highest reported compensation
- KIM WHITTEN (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $289,423 total reported compensation
- ADAM CUPPY (CHIEF PRODUCT & TECHNOLOGY OFFICER): $250,000 total reported compensation
- ANDREW KARAS (CHIEF OF GROWTH AND STRATEGY): $225,495 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
At Chapter One, we transform children’s futures with 1:1 reading support at the time they need it most.
What it reported doing in 2024
Innovations for learning operates the tutormate program which connects volunteers from major corporations to first grade students for 30 minute read together sessions each week.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 66% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 69
- Transparency & Controls: 60
- Accountability: 58
- Sustainability: 12
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 79.8%; rating input score 80
- Program expense ratio: 74.9%; rating input score 75
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Claims monitoring procedures: Fail
- Requires narrative reports: Fail
- Conducts field audits: Fail
- May suspend future funding: Fail
- Requires financial reports: Fail
- Conducts site visits: Fail
- Requires grant agreements: Fail
- May require repayment: Fail
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 3 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Fail
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -15%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.13; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.3; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 15.5%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 14.8% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 11.6% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 5 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 79.8% of revenue deployed · 74.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 8 board members independent · 3 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $7.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $289K · 14 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 9 not reported.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 8 of 8 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 4/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.