Criterion Child Enrichment

Legal name: Criterion Child Enrichment Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
222592997
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Milford, MA, USA
Phone
5084733422
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Children's, Youth Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$29,246,169
Expenses
$26,112,520
Assets
$27,740,341
Liabilities
$10,846,629

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

Leadership & pay

12 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DR BROOKE LITTLETON-FITZGERALD (FIRST VICE PRESIDENT/DIRECTOR)
  • DANA WHITE (VICE PRESIDENT/DIRECTOR)
  • DR ROBERT F LITTLETON JR (PRESIDENT/TREASURER)

Highest reported compensation

  • MAURA MURPHY (CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER): $230,600 total reported compensation
  • DEIRDRE MORRISSEY (PROGRAM DIRECTOR): $153,224 total reported compensation
  • LIANNE RENAUD (PROGRAM DIRECTOR): $149,966 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Criterion Child Enrichment is dedicated to the provision of high quality early childhood education and support to families with young children.

What it reported doing in 2024

Family support - healthy families is a program for first time parents under the age of 24. Young parents are provided with support, information on child development and assistance accessing community resources. In addition to home visits, families have the option to participate in group social activities such as holiday celebrations, field trips and dinners. Healthy families staff can also work closely with medical providers, school systems and other community based agencies to coordinate services for program participants. The program is also able to assist families with accessing basic necessities such as food, shelter and medical care. The regional consultation program provides enhanced services to infants and toddlers who demonstrate complex and extensive developmental and medical/health needs. Welcome family is a program that offers a universal, one-time visit to mothers with newborns. The one-time visit is conducted by a maternal child health nurse and lasts approximately 90 minutes. A follow-up phone call is also provided two to three weeks after the visit to document outcomes of referrals made during the home visit. All services are free and mothers will not be charged a fee. Mothers are the primary target population but any caregiver is eligible, including fathers, grandparents, adoptive, and foster parents.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 71% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 77
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 72
  • Sustainability: 55
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83.4%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 92.3%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 60%; rating input score 60; 10th 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: 10.7%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.06; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.39; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.7%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.2% per year; rating input score 100; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 83.4% of revenue deployed · 92.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 3 of 5 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $24.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $231K · 12 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $4.4M reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 38/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 37/100.