Children's Hunger Alliance
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 237303509
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Columbus, OH, USA
- Phone
- (614) 341-7700
- Rating
- 86
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Nutrition
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $19,372,194
- Expenses
- $19,591,974
- Assets
- $7,630,901
- Liabilities
- $2,625,467
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
35 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MICHELLE BROWN (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- MICHELLE BROWN (CEO): $222,059 total reported compensation
- MICHELE MARRA (SR VP FIN & OPERS): $156,242 total reported compensation
- JOY KOUNS-LEWIS (VP OF HUMAN RESOURCES): $118,806 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 break the cycle of childhood hunger in Ohio by providing healthy food and nutrition education to children wherever they are.
What it reported doing in 2024
Children's hunger alliance (cha) sponsors the usda child and adult care food program (cacfp) and summer food service program (sfsp) which provides meals to children in low-income households in home-based childcare, childcare centers, afterschool and summer programs. Cha is one of the largest sponsors in Ohio, supporting 1,200 caregivers who provided more than 5.0 million meals and snacks for children in their care in fy25. Cha worked with 80 school districts to increase school breakfast participation for students, which supported access to 1.9 million meals last year. Cha offers weekend meal boxes to support children's nutritional needs and provides additional free meals wherever possible to decrease hunger. See schedule o. Through these efforts, over 3.3 million meals were distributed through 319 schools, community, faith-based organizations, head starts, childcare centers, and hospital clinics in fy25. In addition to providing food and increasing food access, cha provided nutrition andphysical activity education for children and their caregivers in these settings. Throughout fy25, more than 124,000 children received access to food and nutrition education as a result of cha's sponsorship and support. In summary, cha served 10.1 million meals. 124,343 children were served. Cha worked with 1,573 partner sites in 74 counties.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 80% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 86
- Transparency & Controls: 84
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 28
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 89.7%; rating input score 90
- Program expense ratio: 88.7%; rating input score 89
- Fundraising efficiency: $21.45 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- 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; 66th 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: -1.1%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.39; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.34; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.1%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 6 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 5 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 89.7% of revenue deployed · 88.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 27 of 27 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $17.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $222K · 35 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $9.1M reported
- Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 59/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 26/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.