Children's Foundation of Mississippi
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 831998379
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2019, Form 990-N 2018
- Location
- Jackson, MS, USA
- Phone
- 6019829050
- Rating
- 90
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Alliance/Advocacy
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,461,557
- Expenses
- $1,424,540
- Assets
- $455,370
- Liabilities
- $221,946
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DAVE DENNIS (PRESIDENT)
- LINDA SOUTHWARD (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- LINDA SOUTHWARD (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $107,625 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 improve the well-being of Mississippi's children through the design, promotion and improvement of systems and services.
What it reported doing in 2024
Living up to its mission to improve the lives of children by shaping better systems, fostering collaboration across communities, and driving meaningful, data-informed changes, the children's foundation of Mississippi (cfm) spent 2024 conducting subgrant research for the federal preschool development grant (pdg) b-5 grant and supporting 24 early childhood councils, hosted its annual summit for over 250 attendees, conducted 64 professional development/capacity building and convening opportunities for communities, partners and parents, and hosted 3 developmental screening events across the state. Over 200 communication tools were developed and used to share content with stakeholders, including one-pagers, podcasts, webinars, and social media posts. Cfm produced policy briefs on early intervention and mental health and the 2024 kids count factbook and legislative calendar. Over 20 collaborative grants were written and resources were provided to early childhood councils. Seven community-based needs assessments were conducted. 107 children were enrolled in kids to college, a college savings account program in partnership with entergy. Cfm data was used in grant writing across the state, resulting in $52 million over a 3-year period.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 78% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 89
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 32
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 90.5%; rating input score 91
- Program expense ratio: 92.9%; rating input score 93
- Fundraising efficiency: $24.63 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 64; 64th 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: Limited
- 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: 2.5%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.32; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.49; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 7.6%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 38.5% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 31.2% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 15.5% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 90.5% of revenue deployed · 92.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $108K · 10 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $485K reported
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 43/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 15/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 16/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 45/100.