Children's Scholarship Fund Philadelphia

What it reported doing in 2024

Children's scholarship fund philadelphia (csfp) is a privately-funded program whose mission is to provide children from under-resourced philadelphia families with financial access to quality, safe, k-8th grade, tuition-based schools, thereby increasing their long-term economic and social success. Csfp grants need-based, partial scholarships through a random lottery. During 2024, csfp served 6,553 children enrolled at over 150 parochial and private schools.continued on schedule o.csfp provides additional programming in service to scholarship recipients called camp connections, which is a summer program in which scholarship recipients are invited to attend a weeklong camp through partnerships with local universities. The purpose of camp connections is to combat "summer slide", the loss of academic progress over the summer break from school, by providing an enriching and fun opportunity for scholarship recipients to learn, grow, and be challenged outside of the traditional school environment.csfp has also created the program ambassador (pa) program in which parents/guardians of scholarship recipients serve as a representative within their child's school, acting as a key contact for families to strengthen relationships between schools, the community, and csfp staff. Pas participate in school events on behalf of csfp, communicate with existing families about student verification records, registrations, and events, and engage with prospective families interested in applying for scholarships. They also collaborate with school administrators to support scholar families, regularly check and respond to emails from csfp and families, and attend mandatory meetings, including orientation, monthly check-ins, and a winter update meeting.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 92.2%; rating input score 92
• Program expense ratio: 89.9%; rating input score 90
• Fundraising efficiency: $17.55 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 99.9%; rating input score 100; 39th 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; 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: 1.8%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.58; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 5.2%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 6.6% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings