National Child Safety Council

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
386035290
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Jackson, MI, USA
Phone
5177646070
Rating
65
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Safety Education

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,360,303
Expenses
$1,525,758
Assets
$3,128,090
Liabilities
$851,985

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • HARLEY J KAUFMAN (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • LISA CONWAY (SAFETY COUNS): $199,175 total reported compensation
  • HARLEY J KAUFMAN (PRESIDENT): $181,140 total reported compensation
  • ELIZABETH PETRIE (SAFETY COUNS): $133,890 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Our mission at national child safety council (ncsc) is to prevent needless accidents and to help save lives by providing local law enforcement departments with meaningful safety educational materials and programs for children, adults, and seniors. Ncsc leads the industry by providing thousands of public safety organizations across the u.s. Over 4 million pieces of safety material annually. Ncsc is proud to say that it has been a law enforcement partner since 1955.

What it reported doing in 2024

National child safety council, inc. (ncsc) provided approximately 1,000 child safety education programs in 40 states that reached over 1 million school aged children and their families in thousands of schools. The council develops and publishes child safety awareness and education material on topics such as general child safety, school bus safety, seat belt use, sex abuse and alcohol and drug abuse, as well as a full safety program for seniors.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 94% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 67
  • Accountability: 72
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.2%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 70.4%; rating input score 70
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.99 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 14th 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: -12.2%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.05; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.27; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 25.5%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1% per year; rating input score 0; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -2.6% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 79.2% of revenue deployed · 70.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 6 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $199K · 11 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 34 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes executive pay and related organizations
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 4 filed related-organization links
  • 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: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 31/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 15/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 26/100.