Child Care Council of Westchester Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
133234987
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Scarsdale, NY, USA
Phone
9147613456
Rating
87
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Child Day Care

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$13,584,682
Expenses
$13,694,325
Assets
$5,779,887
Liabilities
$2,157,567

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

29 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Kathleen Halas (Executive Director - through 11/10/24)
  • Laura Newman (Executive Director - as of 11/11/2024)
  • Emily Koelsch (President)
  • Nicole Rebori (Vice President)
  • Christie Noelle Krase (President Emeritus)
  • Craig Ruoff (President Emeritus)

Highest reported compensation

  • Kathleen Halas (Executive Director - through 11/10/24): $160,044 total reported compensation
  • Michael Goldman (Chief Financial Officer): $154,158 total reported compensation
  • Juanita Pope (Director of Administration): $112,506 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 Child Care Council of Westchester, Inc. is one of the largest child care resource and referral agencies in the state of New York. A nonprofit, 501(c)(3) agency, the Council plays a unique role within the county, delivering a variety of unique services including: linking parents to child care via information and referrals and help obtaining financial assistance; expanding the supply of quality child care programs and providers through technical assistance, training, monitoring of regulatory compliance and start-up help; support to the workplace through on-site seminars, guidance on dependent care issues; Policy and public education to raise awareness of the benefits and value of a strong early care and education system.

What it reported doing in 2024

Training and technical assistance to improve child care quality *3775 early care and education professionals attended 235 Council workshops * 42 students were enrolled in the Council's eCDA program (on-line CDA). * In October 2024, 8 early childhood professionals enrolled in the Council's 2024-25 Infant Toddler/ Family Child Care CDA program. In June 2025, 8 students completed the class *In January 2025, 14 early childhood professionals began the Council's 2025 Spanish CDA program. As of June 2025 the course was ongoing with all 14 students remaining in the class.* In October 2024, a school age conference was held for 112 participants * In November 2024, a virtual early childhood conference was held for 88 participants* 24 child care center classrooms and family child care programs received intensive scale based technical assistance; All of those programs received a quality improvement grant. These grants focused on literacy, language and the cognitive and social emotional development of the children. * In early 2025, 19 programs, including eight center-based classrooms from six child care centers and thirteen group family providers, participated in our Early Literacy Book Bag program funded by the Sexauer Family Foundation. The project was created to promote early literacy for low-income families. This year, families were each provided a home library of 7-8 age-appropriate books and a book bag. The families received training and were also given literature on reading at home with young children. Programs participated in a training and technical assistance project, received an assortment of diverse books and language enhancing materials for their programs.* From July 2024 to June 2025, Mental Health Consultants worked with caregivers in 41 center-based and family childcare programs. The specialists worked on improving the capacity for the caregivers to meet the social and emotional needs of young children. Three support groups for early childhood professionals met virtually and in- person throughout the year, giving support and encouragement to the valuable caregivers. The Council's two Business Development Specialists worked closely with child care providers throughout the year to help them meet New York State grant requirements. Their support included assistance with expense reports and audit preparation for the Deserts, Stabilization, and Workforce Retention grants. From July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025, they completed 813 instances of basic technical assistance and provided 95 hours of intensive technical assistance (defined as in-person support lasting at least one hour). In addition, they offered 20 business and computer training courses to 92 providers, helping strengthen their operations and overall capacity.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 93% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 62% of its reported program spending out as grants.

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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 90
  • Transparency & Controls: 81
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 27
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 91.9%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 91.1%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: $68.65 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 98.5%; rating input score 99; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th 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: -0.8%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.42; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.37; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.6%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.9% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.3% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 9.7% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 91.9% of revenue deployed · 91.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 23 of 23 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $12.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $160K · 29 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 45 of 46 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 27/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 54/100.