New Alternatives for Children

Legal name: New Alternatives for Children Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
133149298
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New York, NY, US
Phone
212.696.1550
Rating
89
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$35,879,879
Expenses
$34,893,124
Assets
$82,479,292
Liabilities
$66,485,709

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

Leadership & pay

46 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DAVID SORKIN (PRESIDENT)
  • JONATHAN KNEE (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • ROBERT FRIEDMAN (PRESIDENT EMERITUS)
  • VIVIAN FARAH (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • ELIZABETH PFORZHEIMER (FOUNDING PRESIDENT)
  • DAVID GOLDSTEIN (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • ARLENE GOLDSMITH (Founder): $399,314 total reported compensation
  • DAVID GOLDSTEIN (Executive Director): $335,070 total reported compensation
  • KHALID KHAN (DIRECTOR OF MENTAL HEALTH): $305,668 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

New Alternatives for Children (NAC) is dedicated to providing the highest quality of care for our clients, invested in the success of every individual child we serve.

What it reported doing in 2024

Foster care and adoption programs include specialized foster care for children who are medically complex, have a developmental disability, HIV, or who have co-occurring medical and mental needs. New alternatives for children provides acs-contracted foster care and preparing youth for adulthood services, which teaches independent living skills for youth in foster care. The goal is to assure permanency, safety, and wellbeing. Approximately 50% of nac children are returned to their birth families and 50% are adopted by their foster family. Children at nac do not age out of foster care and leave with a permanent resource. Nac also has a significant kinship program, and fair futures.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 71% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 84% 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 96
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 47
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84.9%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 87.3%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $12.27 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 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: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2.8%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.36; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.81; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 6.3%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 21.5% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 15 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 84.9% of revenue deployed · 87.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 35 of 35 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $30.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $399K · 46 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.3M reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 9 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 44/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 45/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 14/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 41/100.