Godly Play Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
311589053
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Ashland, KS, USA
Phone
931-636-3993
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Health - General and Rehabilitative N.E.C.
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$813,607
Expenses
$1,151,205
Assets
$4,000,323
Liabilities
$51,179

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

Leadership & pay

10 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Cynthia Hill (Vice President)
  • Emily Griffin (President)
  • Heather Ingersoll (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Heather Ingersoll (Executive Director): $138,911 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Godly Play: Making meaning through story, wonder, and play. Nurturing spiritual lives by honoring the centrality, competency, and capacity of children.

What it reported doing in 2024

Everyday Godly Play: In 2022, Godly Play received a grant that allows the organization to expand their resources to support parents and caregivers in their homes and through their faith communites. The project will include an online hub for resources, inspiration, and community building for parents and caregivers with relevant pathways for religious education leaders. The overarching goals of this project are to: Empower parents and caregivers to foster a sustainable and integrated family spirituality through these critical activities, equipping them to incorporate rhythm, wonder, play, and narrative in their relationships with their children by providing access to resources, courses, storytelling materials, and community support. Equip religious education professionals to imagine and implement innovative models for empowering and equipping parents and caregivers to sustain an integrated family spirituality. Support clergy and church leadership in cultivating a faith community that embraces and promotes a holistic approach to ministry centered on the spiritual needs of children and families.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 68% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 94
  • Transparency & Controls: 66
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 93.2%; rating input score 93
  • Fundraising efficiency: $30.53 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Pass
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 42.2%; rating input score 42; 28th 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: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -41.5%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.47; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 12.1%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.8% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.4% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 18.1% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 93.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $139K · 10 people listed
  • Consistency: 35 of 36 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 6 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 42/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 4/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Whistleblower policy not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 30/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.