Executives Partnering to Invest in Children (EPIC)

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
473951585
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2015
Location
Denver, CO, USA
Phone
3033193350
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Education N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue
$3,716,484
Expenses
$2,440,841
Assets
$2,156,408
Liabilities
$521,151

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

Leadership & pay

25 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • NICOLE RIEHL (PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • NICOLE RIEHL (PRESIDENT & CEO): $208,618 total reported compensation
  • Stephanie Itelman (Chief Impact Officer): $160,857 total reported compensation
  • Cassie Leyva (VP Development & Operations): $108,917 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

As the business community's nonpartisan voice for early childhood, epic leads efforts to build infrastructure and advance policies that support the workforce of today while developing the workforce of tomorrow.

What it reported doing in 2024

Building up: epic has developed the building up initiative to support a critical child care infrastructure need in Colorado. Building up will enhance the capacity of epic to support the generation of ideas, prototyping solutions, and project management for child care infrastructure projects in addition to advocacy support for state and local efforts. Epic will support projects from the concept stage through the point when the child care business is ready to operate with data-informed decisions. Building up will increase affordability & availability of quality child care for families of Colorado. Improve sustainability for child care owners to maintain business facility/home. Improve business support for current and future child care business owners. Increase compensation for the early childhood educator workforce.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 81% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 65
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 97
  • Sustainability: 56
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 53.1%; rating input score 53
  • Program expense ratio: 80.3%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: $41.9 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 95.2%; rating input score 95; 25th 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: 34.3%; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.88; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.24; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 22.6%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 39.7% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 35.4% per year; rating input score 100; 95th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 40.3% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 53.1% of revenue deployed · 80.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 20 of 21 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $209K · 25 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $270K reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2016 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 53/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 33/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.