Childrens Action Alliance Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
860594785
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Phoenix, AZ, USA
Phone
6022660707
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,053,206
Expenses
$2,369,188
Assets
$4,075,682
Liabilities
$351,906

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • JANUARY CONTRERAS (Executive Dir.): $190,311 total reported compensation
  • MICHELLE CROW (DIRECTOR, SOUTH AZ): $135,394 total reported compensation
  • JENNIFER BURNS (DIRECTOR, HEALTH P): $112,006 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Through research publications, media campaigns, and advocacy, CAA seeks to influence policies and decisions affecting the lives of Arizona children and their families on issues related to health, child abuse and neglect, early care and education, budget and taxes, children and immigration and working families. CAA works toward a future in which all children have health insurance, no child is raised in poverty and hunger, every child enters school ready to learn and succeed, no child endures the ravages of abuse and neglect, every child has a place to call home and struggling teens have the support they need to become responsible adults.

What it reported doing in 2025

Childrens action alliance advocates for policies, programs, and resources that benefit children and families. Our work is about real arizonans children, parents, caregivers, and individuals who should be able to expect equitable access to high-quality health care, early learning and education, safety, and economic security that will improve their well-being and opporunity to thrive. We believe that every child and family matters. We lift up data, lived experience voices, and policy solutions to influence legislation, administrative actions, and tax policy and budget decisions that make Arizona a stronger place for all children and families. Arizona children and families saw key wins in 2025 such as significant state general fund support for childcare assistance, school meals for elementary and high school students, critical k-12 education funding, and an increase in financial support for foster parents and kinship caregivers.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 82% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 93% 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: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 25
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 96.2%; rating input score 96
  • Program expense ratio: 79.7%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $14.69 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 95.3%; rating input score 95; 36th 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: 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: -15.4%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.72; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 28.4%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.2% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -5.3% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 96.2% of revenue deployed · 79.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $190K · 21 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 38 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2019 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 12 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 4 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 49/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 53/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 51/100.