Dc Kincare Alliance

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
821855402
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2021, Form 990-N 2018
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2023607106
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Family Services

Reported finances

Revenue
$642,835
Expenses
$713,593
Assets
$637,348
Liabilities
$74,365

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DONNEQUA GRANTHAM (PRESIDENT AND BOARD CHAIR)
  • MARLA SPINDEL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • STEPHANIE MCCLELLAN (DEPUTY DIRECTOR): $126,164 total reported compensation
  • MARLA SPINDEL (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $93,184 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 provide high-quality, free legal advice, representation and education to relative caregivers raising at-risk dc children.

What it reported doing in 2025

Dc kincare alliance staff and volunteer attorneys assisted more than 225 clients raising more than 350 vulnerable dc children in over 370 legal matters. Such assistance included representing caregivers in court proceedings to obtain custody of or adopt the children in their care, helping caregivers apply for benefits and services to raise the children, providing educational seminars to affected community memebrs, and generating changes to unjust laws and policies through impact litigation and advocacy. More than $11,895,000 of in-kind pro bono legal services were provided to dc kincare alliance clients through partnerships with law firms and corporate legal departments.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 92% 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.

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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 22
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 94.2%; rating input score 94
  • Program expense ratio: 84.8%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 24th 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: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -11%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.89; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 30.7%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 21.5% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 29.8% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 40.3% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 94.2% of revenue deployed · 84.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $605K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $126K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 26 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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 41/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 12/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 40/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 33/100.