Homeless Children's Education Fund
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 251820564
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- Phone
- 4125620154
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Public Foundations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,624,870
- Expenses
- $2,147,803
- Assets
- $2,731,580
- Liabilities
- $62,667
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
17 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ARDANA JEFFERSON (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
Highest reported compensation
- ARDANA JEFFERSON (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $172,757 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 advance the education of children and youth experiencing homelessness in allegheny county by providing educational programs and services; serving as a trusted advocate; sharing expertise; facilitating collaborative relationships that maximize the collective impact among community partners [homeless education network(hen)].
What it reported doing in 2024
Homeless shelter learning centers are built just for kids and equipped with technology and resources for educational support. These centers are equipped with books, games and educational toys in addition to posters and prompts that foster emotional and social development. We equip and refresh these spaces, as needed, to keep them at peak quality for our youth. Building blocks for success afterschool and summer programming is delivered to children living in homeless shelters and temporary residences. With our instructors, literacy specialist and intern teams, we forge relationships with youth and their parents that enable trust and learning. A quality instructor at each site is assisted by a literacy specialist (who shares time between all sites) and 2-3 college interns and volunteers. Hcef conducted group zoom sessions and got to know each family individually (the youth and their parents) during the pandemic. We focus on outcomes in three areas: learning strategies and engagement, developmental relationships and social and emotional learning. Enrichment programs bring creative, hands-on steam (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) experiences to enhance learning. The objectives of these programs are to expand a child's world, integrate them into large community activities and provide a basis for "prior knowledge."
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 86% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 95% 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
SUPPORTED - 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: 71
- Transparency & Controls: 79
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 29
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 86.2%; rating input score 86
- Program expense ratio: 64.8%; rating input score 65
- Fundraising efficiency: $3.66 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th 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: 8 of 8 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: 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: -32.2%; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.27; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 8%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 86.2% of revenue deployed · 64.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $173K · 17 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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 11/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 5/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 50/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 43/100.