Child Welfare Innovation Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 384011253
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2017, Form 990-N 2018
- Location
- Boston, MA, USA
- Phone
- 3392191187
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Children's, Youth Services
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $3,327,432
- Expenses
- $7,286,162
- Assets
- $7,998,381
- Liabilities
- $438,124
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
16 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Marie Zemler Wu (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Brian Clapier (Senior VP of Programs): $246,507 total reported compensation
- Marie Zemler Wu (Executive Director): $238,408 total reported compensation
- Michael Russom (VP of Finance & Operations): $222,371 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Foster America works with communities and governments to strengthen the systems that support children, youth, and families - so families can access help earlier, with dignity, trust, and connection, and without unnecessary child welfare involvement.
What it reported doing in 2025
Foster America advanced work across the child and family well-being field by partnering with communities, public agencies, lived experts, and cross-sector leaders to strengthen how families are supported before unnecessary child welfare involvement occurs.In Colorado, Foster America supported partners in launching the 211 Warmline pilot, a voluntary pathway that gives mandated reporters an alternative to making a child protection report when a family's needs do not require investigation. Through the Warmline, callers can speak with a trained community navigator who connects families to local resources such as housing assistance, food support, mental health care, financial help, and parenting support. The pilot serves Boulder, Gilpin, and Pueblo counties and was designed with community partners, parents with lived experience, and government leaders to help families access support earlier, with dignity and trust.Foster America also supported OPT-In for Families, a multi-site initiative in Kentucky, Oregon, South Carolina, and Washington, D.C., focused on creating new voluntary pathways for families with early signals of need. Across sites, partners are designing community-rooted models that make it easier for families to access practical support, navigation, and trusted relationships before challenges deepen or formal systems become involved. Foster America helps coordinate partners, facilitate cross-site learning, support advisory members with lived experience, and strengthen implementation across the initiative.Foster America continued to invest in leadership development and capacity building through its Leadership Circles. The Fiscal Leadership Circle equipped public-sector finance leaders with tools, strategies, and peer learning to better align funding with prevention and family-centered practice. The National Leadership Circle supported leaders with lived expertise in child welfare and adjacent family-serving systems to advance transformation projects, elevate lived experience, and champion more just and equitable approaches for children, youth, and families.Across these efforts, Foster America shared learning, convened leaders, and elevated lived and professional expertise to build momentum for a more just and equitable child and family well-being field.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 67% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 73% for direct work, and 27% for grants.
The verdict
STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 83
- Transparency & Controls: 80
- Accountability: 94
- Sustainability: 19
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 79.4%; rating input score 79
- Fundraising efficiency: $4.22 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Pass
- 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: 99%; rating input score 99; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 21st 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: -119%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.1; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 21.5%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 17.6% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 16.4% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 21.8% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 79.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 9 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $5.8M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $247K · 16 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $130K reported
- Consistency: 28 of 29 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 11 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 3 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 12/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 37/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.