Foundation for Blind Children

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
860129981
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Phoenix, AZ, USA
Phone
6023311470
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Eye Diseases, Blindness and Vision Impairments

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$14,616,865
Expenses
$13,762,622
Assets
$31,740,829
Liabilities
$1,261,573

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

Leadership & pay

37 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MITCHELL HANSON (BOARD PRESIDENT)
  • STEPHANIE HOWELL (BOARD VICE PRESIDENT)
  • KATHY MILLS (IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT)
  • JARED KITTELSON (CEO)
  • MARC ASHTON (CEO (THROUGH 6/28/24))
  • BARBRA SMITH (VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS)

Highest reported compensation

  • MARC ASHTON (CEO (THROUGH 6/28/24)): $481,177 total reported compensation
  • JARED KITTELSON (CEO): $252,273 total reported compensation
  • BARBRA SMITH (VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS): $182,060 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Foundation for blind children's mission is to provide education, tools and services that enable all persons with vision loss to achieve greater independence. Our vision is a world where vision loss is a diagnosis, not a disability. Foundation for blind children values exceptional service, advocacy, great work environment, community partnerships and financial responsibility.

What it reported doing in 2024

Foundation for blind children's adult services program provides rehabilitation and training for individuals with visual impairments, ages 14 and up, who are registered with Arizona vocational rehabilitation. We support teens transitioning to work or college and adults seeking to re-enter the workforce. Our goal is to help individuals with visual impairments achieve employment. The new horizons program supports retirees experiencing vision loss, offering support groups, independent living skills, and orientation and mobility training. The southwest center for assistive technology training (catt sw) is a collaboration between the american printing house for the blind (aph) and the Alabama institute for deaf and blind, Washington state school for the blind, and foundation for blind children. Catt provides assistive technology training to teachers of the visually impaired, utilizing a "train the trainer" model on specific aph assistive technology. We support Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and Nevada. Foundation for blind children offers services at a low vision clinic which maximizes the remaining vision of a visually impaired person. Foundation for blind children contracts with a highly trained, highly specialized optometrist to conduct thorough examinations of our patients, ranging in various age, and recommends magnification devices necessary to access information and live independent lives. Foundation for blind children's new research team publishes content to inform and improve the field, while our partnership with Arizona state university's tvi program provides expert instruction to future teachers and hosts student teaching and clinical experiences.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 68% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 97% 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: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 57
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80.5%; rating input score 81
  • Program expense ratio: 84.9%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.99 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • 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; 66th 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: 5.8%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.31; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11.8%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80.5% of revenue deployed · 84.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 22 of 22 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $11.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $481K · 37 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $319K reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 24/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 56/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.