Handicare Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
421193531
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Coralville, IA, USA
Phone
3193547641
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,959,909
Expenses
$1,988,831
Assets
$1,480,382
Liabilities
$204,616

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

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Laura Lage (Executive Director)
  • Dominica Rehbein (President)
  • Blake Laughton (Vice President)
  • Tricia Suarez (President (Partial Year))

Highest reported compensation

  • Laura Lage (Executive Director): $64,620 total reported compensation
  • Donnie Stanley (Operations Manager): $55,753 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The mission of Handicare, Inc. is to provide quality care and education to children in a caring and cost-effective manner. To provide developmentally appropriate activities which help the children achieve school readiness and socialization skills, including early intervention and individual adaptations for children as needed. To be supportive of the family unit with flexible schedules and service coordination. To provide care from infancy to nine years of age, with early (Continued from Part III, Line 1) care and education for infants, toddlers and preschool curriculum for 3 to 5-year olds, and before and after school and full-time care during summer and school breaks.

What it reported doing in 2024

Handicare provides childcare to children ages 6 weeks old through third grade. Our three programs begin with an infant-toddler program for children through age 2. Children then move to our preschool curriculum for ages 3-4. We partner with the Iowa City Community School District to offer a free, 3-hour preschool program (four days/week) taught by a licensed teacher, and we also incorporate elements of the curriculum into the rest of our childcare for 3-4-year old's. Our before-and-after school program and summer kids' club serve school-aged children in grades K-3. Handicare serves neurotypical and special needs children, and we prioritize care and education that are developmentally appropriate and inclusive. We welcome under-served populations, including families who receive childcare assistance. We value collaboration among our staff, families, and community partners; connection, embodied in compassionate and understanding care; and creative learning that makes education meaningful and resonant for our children. In 2023 we were able to hire an Operations Manager to strengthen our Administrative Team. We completed the upstairs remodel (installed new flooring throughout, painted rooms, updated offices). We began the first stages of a playground upgrade with plans to complete in 2024. We continued work on obtaining our IQ4K Certificate of Quality from the state of Iowa (this is (Continued from Part III, Line4a) voluntary and reflects the quality of the program). Our playground upgrade was completed in late spring of 2024. We upgraded all aspects of the playground, making a more natural play space. We also included a sandbox area. We also achieved Level One in the IQ4k Certification of Quality programs. This will expire in 2026 at which time we will apply for Level Two.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 93% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
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 - 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: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 35
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92.2%; rating input score 92
  • Program expense ratio: 90.1%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.5 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -1.5%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.74; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.14; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.1%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.9% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 92.2% of revenue deployed · 90.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 10 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $65K · 15 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • 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 42/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 31/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 34/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 37/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 50/100.