Douglas County Educational Foundation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 841165175
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2015–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Castle Rock, CO, USA
- Phone
- 3033870503
- Rating
- 89
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Public Foundations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $6,095,136
- Expenses
- $5,757,320
- Assets
- $5,041,614
- Liabilities
- $81,110
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- ASHLEY SOMMERS (EXECUTIVE DI): $138,001 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To generate and distribute financial and other resources to the lifelong learning programs of douglas county school district for enrichment programs and other projects aimed at enhancing quality and equity of education and providing learners of all ages with greater opportunity for full participation in a democratic society.
What it reported doing in 2024
The grants and scholarships program of dcef consists of funding in the form of grants and scholarships to schools, district departments, staff and students and include special funding requests, field trips, professional development scholarships for staff, technology grants, and matching grants from employers. The objective is to assist with the funding for areas in need. The apple awards is an annual banquet hosted by the dcef for the district to honor both certified and classified staff throughout the district. There is a formal nomination process, and each site or department submits applications for their representatives. A selection committee then selects the finalists and winners are then chosen on a points basis. The representatives are invited with their site administrators to the banquet where the winners are announced and presented with an award. Sponsor are secured to cover the cost of the event and additional guest may purchase tickets to the event.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 84% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% 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: 85
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 53
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 89.9%; rating input score 90
- Program expense ratio: 95.1%; rating input score 95
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.35 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 32; 32nd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- 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: 5.5%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.88; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0.7%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 0.7% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.5% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 89.9% of revenue deployed · 95.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $5.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $138K · 14 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 32/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 52/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 33/100.