Children's Hope Alliance
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 383672492
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Statesville, NC, USA
- Phone
- 7048724157
- Rating
- 89
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Management & Technical Assistance
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $5,900,982
- Expenses
- $5,813,260
- Assets
- $929,343
- Liabilities
- $700,167
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
19 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CELESTE DOMINGUEZ (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- CELESTE DOMINGUEZ (CEO): $357,641 total reported compensation
- LAKISHA ROGERS-MARELLI (CIO): $212,024 total reported compensation
- KEVIN ANDERS (CCO): $211,211 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 hope alliance (cha) mission is to provide hope, health, and healing for generations.
What it reported doing in 2024
Children's hope alliance (cha) is the parent entity and unified public brand of a family of five 501(c)(3) North Carolina nonprofit organizations that together form one of North Carolina's oldest and largest providers of services to at-risk children and families. The consolidated family has a 130+ year legacy rooted in presbyterian tradition, tracing back to the 1891 founding of the presbyterian home for children at barium springs and the historic grandfather home for children in banner elk. Cha was established in 2003 as the parent organization to bring these two founding entities and their successor operations under unified governance, strategic leadership, and public identity. As a type iii functionally integrated supporting organization under 509 (a)(3), cha exercises substantial direction over the policies, programs, and activities of its four supported organizations and provides centralized governance, fiscal oversight, strategic planning, human resources, information technology, compliance, development, and executive management services across the consolidated family. Through its supported organizations, the consolidated cha family serves over 7,500 children and families annually across 63 North Carolina counties, delivering trauma-informed therapeutic services, foster care, and early intervention/prevention programs. During fy2025, cha's 51 employees provided consolidated support services that enabled the family of entities to advance the mission with efficiency, accountability, and fidelity to a 130+ year heritage of stewardship for vulnerable North Carolina children.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 96% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- 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: 88
- Transparency & Controls: 96
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 21
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 98.5%; rating input score 99
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 1.5%; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.16; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.75; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 32.5%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 23.6% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -10.2% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 98.5% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $5.8M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $358K · 19 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 11 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 5 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 39/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 4/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 12/100.