Girl Scouts of Ohio's Heartland Council Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
314379475
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Columbus, OH, USA
Phone
6143408820
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Services

Reported finances

Revenue
$10,001,581
Expenses
$8,911,875
Assets
$33,880,153
Liabilities
$1,129,808

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

Leadership & pay

26 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • TAMMY WHARTON (PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • TAMMY WHARTON (PRESIDENT & CEO): $226,225 total reported compensation
  • DEB KAROLIN (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $133,345 total reported compensation
  • DEIRDRE DEWEESE (CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER): $114,188 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 build girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place through informal education programs designed to help girls put into practice the fundamental principles of the girl scout movement.

What it reported doing in 2024

Program and badge programs are offered to our members, which are supplemented by the financial literacy and entrepreneurial program provided for by our cookie and fall product programs. In addition to 43,000 badge programs that girls participated in during the year, there are another 20,000 programmatic experiences ranging from stem, healthy living, outdoor, community service, creative arts and life skills provided to our members. Stem is a growing area of interest amongst the girls, with the addition of our stem center. Programs include nature/wetlands, farm to table, construction and engineering, technology, and space, to name a few. There were over 3,500 participating in our stem programs, nearly 7700 participating in outdoor programming and another 3800 in creative and fine arts programs. These programs are typically held in person, with most of the outdoor programming held at our camps. As for our product programs, 7,820 girl scouts participated in the 2025 cookie program, selling just over 1,737,245 packages of cookies. 52,030 packages were donated to operation salute, and delivered to members of the military and their families. Over 2,600 girl scouts participated in the fall product program, selling more than 64,578 nuts and candy items, and 4,803 magazine subscriptions. Through these product programs, girl scouts learned five skills essential to success in life goal seeking, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 72
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 86.3%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $1.97 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 6; 6th 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: Missing
    • 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: 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: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: 10.9%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.8; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.3%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.8% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.9% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 86.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $7.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $226K · 26 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 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.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 6/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 48/100.