Children's Futures Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
311806276
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Trenton, NJ, USA
Phone
6096951977
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Public Health Program (Includes General Health and Wellness Promotion Services)

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,546,135
Expenses
$2,601,226
Assets
$1,303,316
Liabilities
$1,192,046

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SPENCER LESTER (CEO/CFO/PROGRAM MANAGER)

Highest reported compensation

  • SPENCER LESTER (CEO/CFO/PROGRAM MANAGER): $151,463 total reported compensation
  • DR GREGORY SEATON (Program Consultant/Member): $40,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Children's futures ("cf") aims to improve child health & development outcomes for children throughout mercer county. (see schedule o for continuation)

What it reported doing in 2024

HOME VISITATION. Children's Futures Inc administers the nationally regarded Nurse-Family Partnership home visitation program. Specially trained nurses provide low-income, first-time mothers with health and parenting education and assistance in obtaining other social services, including Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), housing assistance and child care. Children's Futures Inc provides 100% of the nurse home visitations for first time moms. FAMILY SUCCESS CENTERS. Family success centers offer community-based services and support to low-income families. The centers are a "one-stop" for pregnancy testing, health screenings, case management, parenting education, trauma informed care and assistance in securing other essential resources. DOULA SERVICES. Children's Futures Inc has 16 community doulas who provide physical, emotional, and informational support to mothers before, during, and shortly after childbirth to help them achieve the healthiest, most satisfying experience possible. Doula care has proven to improve physical and psychological outcomes for both mother and baby. Doulas have a positive impact on the well-being of the entire family.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 100% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.4%; rating input score 87
  • Program expense ratio: 85.5%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $20.27 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 84.6%; rating input score 85; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 92.4%; rating input score 92; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -2.2%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.5; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.91; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.4%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -14.9% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 87.4% of revenue deployed · 85.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 8 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $151K · 8 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 25 of 27 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 59/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 26/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 17/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 7/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 40/100.