Creative Education Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
160849832
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Marshfield, MA, USA
Phone
5089600000
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$537,222
Expenses
$650,572
Assets
$712,359
Liabilities
$186,659

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

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARY E MILLER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • MARY E MILLER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $138,131 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To spark personal and professional transformation by empowering people with the skill set, tool set, and mindset of deliberate creativity.

What it reported doing in 2025

Cef provides education services through training and consulting about creative thinking techniques and how people can develop creativity environments to support creative problem solving and innovation: 1. Cef's educator training programs trains educators how to integrate creative problem solving tools and skills in the classroom. 2. Cef's educator facilitation programs facilitate educational administrators in creative problem solving so they can build innovative solutions to complex challenges and opportunities. 3. Cef's youthwise program teaches young people how to apply creative problem solving and other deliberate creativity techniques throughout their lives. 4. Cef's noller prize recognizes cutting edge research in the field of creativity and innovation.

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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 61
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 21
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 72%; rating input score 72
  • Program expense ratio: 59%; rating input score 59
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.91 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 8; 8th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -21.1%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.09; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.26; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 21.2%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -4.2% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3.3% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 72% of revenue deployed · 59% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $384K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $138K · 15 people listed
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 59/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.