Children FirstCommunities In Schools of Buncombe County Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 591721943
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Asheville, NC, USA
- Phone
- 8282599717
- Rating
- 86
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,994,757
- Expenses
- $1,815,250
- Assets
- $1,083,217
- Liabilities
- $116,613
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
15 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Natasha Adwaters (Executive Director)
- Machelle Cathey (President)
- Lee Anne Mangone (President Elect)
- Dr Patrick Bahls (Past President)
Highest reported compensation
- Natasha Adwaters (Executive Director): $86,648 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To empower children and their families to reach their full potential through advocacy, education and services. As Communities In Schools, we surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life.
What it reported doing in 2024
Children First/Communities In Schools (CIS) Learning Centers are safe haven afterschool programs that provide academic assistance, healthy snacks and enrichment activities for up to 43 at-risk elementary aged children. 28 students also participated in a 6-week summer camp that offers a variety of enrichment and education opportunities, and 7 students participated in tennis at Eblen. The Learning Centers strengthen the connection between student, school, parent and community, which is a key element in helping an at-risk child succeed in school and prepare for life. We had a 95% promotion rate for our 229 case-managed students. . Other notable accomplishments for FY 2025: *Project POWER AmeriCorps members served 243 youths and recruited 375 volunteers who provided 2,667 hours of community service. *The Family Resource Centers served 193 individuals with food boxes, 60 individuals received emergency financial assistance,202 students received backpacks and school supplies, and 332 children received gifts during Holiday Giving. *Childern First/(CIS) supports advocacy by serving as the fiscal sponsor of the Western North Carolina Early Childhood Coalition (WNC ECC). This collaboration allows CF/CIS to continue supporting advocacy that impacts children and families.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 47
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 73.5%; rating input score 74
- Program expense ratio: 80.7%; rating input score 81
- Fundraising efficiency: $29.75 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
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: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
- 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%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.6; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.8%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 73.5% of revenue deployed · 80.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $87K · 15 people listed
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 28/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 59/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 41/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 54/100.