Children's Care Hospital and School
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 460233030
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Sioux Falls, SD, USA
- Phone
- 6054449500
- Rating
- 69
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $73,196,246
- Expenses
- $43,018,040
- Assets
- $75,358,104
- Liabilities
- $9,809,877
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
22 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- STEVEN WATKINS (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- STEVEN WATKINS (CEO): $464,972 total reported compensation
- STEVE WILSON (CFO): $270,433 total reported compensation
- KRISTIN TUTTLE (VP OF MED. & THERAPY SERVI): $185,399 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Empowering people to live their best life.vision statement: lifescape will be an innovative organization, providing exceptional services and creative solutions for people with varied needs and complex care across their life span. Key factors in accomplishing this are collaborative partnerships, striving to become a destination for research, as well as developing, implementing, and training of technology-based solutions to improve the lives of people we support.
What it reported doing in 2024
Children's care hospital & school (cchs) is additive to the fabric of care in South Dakota by being the sole provider of specific medicaid based services and supports for the children of South Dakota.in fiscal year 2025, cchs provided services for over 4,400 individuals from 9 states, from birth through age 21 with disabilities or rehabilitation needs in all of its programs. In South Dakota alone, more than 3,800 children were served from 65 of South Dakota's 66 counties and 257 towns and cities. More than 1,000 of those children received more than one service from lifescape. Outpatient and outreach services, which are community based, served more than 3,600 of those children in sioux falls and rapid city, sd. Services include, but are limited to, therapies ranging from physical and occupational to speech-language pathology, behavioral therapy, assistive technology, seating and positioning, and powered mobility services.in sioux falls, the hiring of a director of the autism child development center has generated a direct cut to the number of children waiting for autism evaluations, resulting in a drop from 397 in fy24 to 289 in fy25. In rapid city, the waitlist continued to grow for applied behavior analysis (aba) services and autism evaluations. However, due to an increase in need for specialized nutrition care tailored to meet unique needs, pediatric medical nutrition therapy services began to be offered in outpatient settings in sioux falls.lifescape's children's specialty hospital continues to be the only pediatric rehabilitation hospital in South Dakota. In fy25, 33 children were served in the hospital. In the residential program and intermediate care facility, 114 children from three states were served, most of whom also attended lifescape's specialty schools. In addition, there were 145 day students at the 26th street campus and pathways to life school. In late fy25, high school students were moved to the vista park location to better suit their needs and create a true high school experience.in South Dakota, lifescape employs 4 out of 5 seating & mobility specialists, and has the 1st and only speech-language pathologist in swallowing disorders, which has led to referrals from out of state.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 64% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 54
- Transparency & Controls: 71
- Accountability: 86
- Sustainability: 78
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 47.8%; rating input score 48
- Program expense ratio: 81.7%; rating input score 82
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th 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: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 41.2%; rating input score 95; 95th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.75; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.13; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2%; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 47.8% of revenue deployed · 81.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 13 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $35.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $465K · 22 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $13.7M reported
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 7 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 48/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 59/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 55/100.