Creative Solutions for Kids and Families Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
202882315
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Riverside, CA, USA
Phone
9519249791
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Foster Care

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$8,809,767
Expenses
$8,142,560
Assets
$5,765,242
Liabilities
$1,551,894

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • RYAN CARGANDO (CEO/PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • RYAN CARGANDO (CEO/PRESIDENT): $323,586 total reported compensation
  • JENNIFER CARGANDO (ASST. EXEC. DIRECTOR/HR DIRECTOR): $181,290 total reported compensation
  • BARBRA CASTILLO (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $128,802 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Empowering children and families on a journey of discovery, where creativity meets problem-solving, inspiring innovation and purposeful existence.

What it reported doing in 2025

Cskf is a therapeutic care agency, with the mission of providing treatment services to children, youth, and families in foster care. The organization fulfills its mission by placing children with resource families where they receive treatment services to improve their emotional, social, educational, and psychological well-being to help them achieve their permanency plan.cskf also provides specialty mental health treatment programs that are designed to heal, empower, and stabilize children and youth through individualized, trauma-informed treatment services including (1) assessment (2) plan development (3) targeted case management (4) individual, family, or group therapy sessions; and (5) medication management support.intensive home-based services (ihbs)-intensive service provided in the home, school, and community are intended to deliver crisis intervention, remediate targeted behaviors, and promote stability of placement. The treatment team of licensed clinician, therapist, and behavioral specialist collaborate with the agency social worker and resource parent to help clients achieve short term goals and inculcate successful behavior management skills.the organization has undertaken an expanded contract with riverside university health system-behavioral health, county of riverside for children system of care contract to provide mental health services to its children and youth placed with cskf and children and families in the community through its outpatient services contract. These services involved assessment, care plan development, individual and group counselling, intensive behavioral health services and other forms of therapeutic interventions to address trauma and functional impairment.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 91% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 62% for direct work, and 38% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 38
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 81.5%; rating input score 81
  • Program expense ratio: 88%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 83.3%; rating input score 83; 17th 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: 7.6%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.71; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.27; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.1%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.4% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.4% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16.3% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 81.5% of revenue deployed · 88% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 6 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $7.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $324K · 9 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $151K reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • 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 — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 50/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 29/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 36/100.