4Cs Sonoma County

Legal name: Community Child Care Council of Sonoma County

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
942274620
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Santa Rosa, CA, US
Phone
(707) 544-3077
Rating
85
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Child Day Care

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$53,706,489
Expenses
$53,233,763
Assets
$17,331,955
Liabilities
$15,535,158

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Melanie Dodson (Executive Dir.): $246,137 total reported compensation
  • Maya Labourdette (Finance Dir.): $205,985 total reported compensation
  • Michelle Ruggles (Child Care Contacts Controller): $159,687 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

4Cs provides access to quality child care and early education in Sonoma County through advocacy, direct service and empowerment.

What it reported doing in 2024

Child Care Resource & Referral - 4Cs is one of 59 statewide Child Care Resource & Referral (R&R) organizations and is a member of the California Child Care Resource & Referral Network. 4Cs Resource & Referral (R&R) Department provides free and confidential child care referrals for parents/guardians to licensed family child care homes and child care centers across our service area. The R&R also maintains the Child Care Eligibility List for families who need assistance in paying for child care. In addition to child care referrals, 4Cs offers regular training and technical assistance in-person, virtually, over the phone, and by email. The R&R assists clients by providing information about other organizations that can support families and child care providers around topics including child development, how to become a licensed child care provider or center, licensing requirements and updates, health & safety, provider/parent relationships, choosing quality child care, working with children with special needs, childhood nutrition, advocacy, trauma-informed care, and a variety of other community resources for families and providers. Additionally, 4Cs provides Early Learning Coaching Services to strengthen instructional quality in early care and education programs. Coaches use evidence-based practices to deliver professional development, support program improvement, and foster collaboration among educators and stakeholders. These efforts aim to enhance classroom quality, improve teacher-child interactions, and promote sustained participation in Quality Counts program and other programs promoting continuous quality improvement.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 99% 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 94
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 93.3%; rating input score 93
  • Program expense ratio: 94.2%; rating input score 94
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4,548.27 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • 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; 77th 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: 0.9%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.33; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.9; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.4%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.5% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 15.9% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 3 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 93.3% of revenue deployed · 94.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $50.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $246K · 21 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.8M reported
  • Consistency: 25 of 26 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 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.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 37/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 13/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 48/100.