Kids Read Now Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 453504550
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Troy, OH, USA
- Phone
- 8775360130
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Remedial Reading, Reading Encouragement
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $4,471,799
- Expenses
- $4,591,699
- Assets
- $1,380,412
- Liabilities
- $3,957,242
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- KRISTEN WALTER (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- RANDY WEDDLE (COO): $138,372 total reported compensation
- KRISTEN WALTER (CEO): $125,443 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 eliminate the summer reading slide. Mail student selected books home, one a week, all summer long. Engage parents with weekly messaging. Measure results with reading scores evaluations, stakeholder surveys and engagement metrics.
What it reported doing in 2024
The organization provided approximately 543,073 books and 2.1 million reading activities to over 103,940 k-5 elementary students in 46 states across 198 districts, and 444 schools to fulfill our mission of ensuring out-of-school time is reading time for k-5th-grade students and their families.
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 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.
- 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: 82
- Transparency & Controls: 86
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 20
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 89.4%; rating input score 89
- Program expense ratio: 87%; rating input score 87
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.2 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- 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 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- 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: -2.7%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.3; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 2.87; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.7%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 16.9% per year; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 20% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 11.5% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 89.4% of revenue deployed · 87% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $138K · 14 people listed
- Consistency: 27 of 28 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 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.
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 31/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 25/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 9/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule D land buildings reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 1/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 49/100.