Communities in Schools of Cape Fear Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 203385755
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Wilmington, NC, USA
- Phone
- 9103431901
- Rating
- 90
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Human Service Organizations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $5,715,188
- Expenses
- $5,413,975
- Assets
- $4,391,786
- Liabilities
- $124,310
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
22 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Louise Hicks (Executive Director)
Highest reported compensation
- Louise Hicks (Executive Director): $137,978 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 surround at risk students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life.
What it reported doing in 2024
The mission of Communities in Schools of Cape Fear is to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. To fulfill our mission, we place staff inside targeted, high-need public schools, who work directly with vulnerable students and those with the greatest risk of dropping out throughout the school day. We empower over 2,500 students to stay in school and on the path to graduation each year. Our trained student support specialists do this by partnering with counselors and teachers, mobilizing the community to offer extra support, and doing whatever it takes to help students succeed. Our unique model works because it's based on national research, driven by community relationships and supported by local resources. Current programs include Student Support Specialists at 34 area schools, afterschool programs at 6 schools in Pender County, Community Learning Alternatives for Suspended Students (CLASS) at our downtown youth center, WIRE, Teen Court, Restitution, and Restorative Justice, Freedom School and summer enrichment programs, and programming to support and empower teen parents. During the 2023/2024 school year, we provided free programming and support to 34,549 students and families, and case-managed an additional 2,664. Of those, 99% stayed in school, 94% graduated, 88% improved academically, 79% improved behavior, and 93% improved attendance.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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.
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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 91
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 50
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 90.2%; rating input score 90
- Program expense ratio: 95%; rating input score 95
- Fundraising efficiency: $61.59 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 81; 81st 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: Limited
- 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: Pass
- 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: Fail
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 5.3%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.81; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.5%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 20.2% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 17% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 27.2% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 90.2% of revenue deployed · 95% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 22 of 22 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $5.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $138K · 22 people listed
- Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 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.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 51/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Audit committee oversight not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 30/100.