Connecting for Kids of Westlake Oh
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 451689767
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2012
- Location
- Westlake, OH, USA
- Phone
- 4402505563
- Rating
- 86
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Youth Development N.E.C.
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $390,474
- Expenses
- $411,402
- Assets
- $145,219
- Liabilities
- $24,510
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
23 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- STEPHANIE MCNAMARA JD (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- SARAH RINTAMAKI (EXECUTIVE DI): $53,176 total reported compensation
- KARLA FITCH (SECRETARY): $47,403 total reported compensation
- KIMBERLY WYLIE (TREASURER): $6,255 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Connecting for kids is a local nonprofit organization with a mission to provide resources, support and community to families in northeast Ohio who have concerns about their child. The organization serve all families, including those children with and without diagnoses.
What it reported doing in 2024
Family programming connecting for kids offered 157 free programs throughout cuyahoga and lorain counties last academic year, serving more than 2,640 participants. During these programs, we offered free child care staffed by experts in child development and supplemented by volunteers. Speaker series programs featured local, pediatric professionals giving presentations on various childhood topics, including: autism 101, perfectionism in gifted and anxious kids; what's eating you? Eating disorders & mental health in children; the ugly hour; and navigating well-being in a digital age. Share & support groups allow families to meet others facing similar concerns. Sessions featured during the program year included lgbtq+ caregiver connect; solo parenting, parenting is lonely; balancing act: how to deal with an uneven mental load; hop on pop: dad's adapted play & connect; and as well as two sessions with topics for families of children with complex needs. Workshops included the popular behavior chats, offered several times through the academic year, as well as autism & caregiving, your joy & grief matter: a workshop for black american caregivers; building a toolbox: practical ways to help your child with coping skills; sibling solutions: how to deal with conflict, competition and differing needs; picky eating and problem feeding; navigating ieps, 504s and etrs; and book discussions: the whole-brain child and out of my mind; navigating shared struggles: tools for parents and children; and adolescence & advocacy: healthcare transition planning for puberty. For children, we offer adapted playgroups and music therapy programs that integrate a caregiver learning component. These child and adult programs bring the families into community spaces at local libraries to connect and learn with other families. Music therapy & more is a hands-on program led by a board-certified music therapist. It is designed for children ages 0-6 years who are struggling in an area of development and teaches families how to use music to improve their child's academic, motor, communication and social skills as well as behavior. This popular program had 57 sessions during 2024-2025, held at seven library locations. In addition, six sessions of this program targeted at those ages 7-12 with complex needs and disabilities were also held. During the program year, cfk offered nine sessions of inclusive drop-in playgroups and 23 sessions of adapted playgroups. Playgroups are designed to offer a safe, welcoming environment for caregivers of children with concerns about development. A new playgroup location was added in oberlin during the program year.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 66% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 82
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 23
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 89.9%; rating input score 90
- Program expense ratio: 85.2%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: $9.13 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -5.4%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.35; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.17; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 26%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 14.2% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 12.3% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 9.8% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 89.9% of revenue deployed · 85.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 20 of 20 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $351K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $53K · 23 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 37/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 29/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 18/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.