Children's Scholarship Fund Baltimore
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 311480933
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Baltimore, MD, USA
- Phone
- 4102432510
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Scholarships, Student Financial Aid Services, Awards
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $757,997
- Expenses
- $881,425
- Assets
- $1,030,085
- Liabilities
- $123,776
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ERICA JENSEN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- ERICA JENSEN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $107,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Csfb awards kindergarten to 8th grade scholarships to low income baltimore city families without regard to gender, race, grades or test scores, ethnicity or religious belief.
What it reported doing in 2024
Csfb knows that parents want to choose a school for their children that will meet their needs - socially, academically, emotionally and structurally. Our mission is to provide the choice to every family - regardless of income level. Concurrent with public education reforms in baltimore, privately-funded school choice remains an option that hundreds of families want for their children - there are consistently more than 900 students from 400 families on our waiting list. Csfb is the only non-profit organization in baltimore city that awards kindergarten-8th grade scholarships to low-income families without regard to gender, race, grades or test scores, ethinicity or religioius belief. The only requirements are that our families:1. Meet csfb income eligibility - at or below 270% of the federal poverty level;2. Contribute a minimum of $500 per year per child in tuition;3. Reside in baltimore city;4. Ensure that their children maintian a 90% attendance rate at school.we believe that a student's economic status should be neither a barrier to the school of his or her choice, nor a variable in his or her success in school and in life. These scholarships enable children to build critical academic and social skills - ensuring long-term success.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 85% of its reported program spending out as grants.
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: 81
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 28
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 93.2%; rating input score 93
- Program expense ratio: 79.8%; rating input score 80
- Fundraising efficiency: $7.32 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 28; 28th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- 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: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- 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: -16.3%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.17; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 12.1%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.5% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -0.2% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 11.6% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 93.2% of revenue deployed · 79.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $703K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $107K · 14 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 28/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 11/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Whistleblower policy not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 48/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 30/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 40/100.