New Jersey Children's Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
831290193
IRS 990 coverage
2018–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Newark, NJ, USA
Phone
9737998571
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$13,376,023
Expenses
$6,403,895
Assets
$9,569,865
Liabilities
$440,923

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BARBARA MARTINEZ (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • BARBARA MARTINEZ (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $282,929 total reported compensation
  • KENNISHA MILES (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $195,884 total reported compensation
  • COLLEEN SCHULZ-ESKOW (CHIEF POLICY OFFICER): $187,167 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 New Jersey children's foundation's mission is to invest in people, programs, and partnerships that will improve public education systems by putting the interests of children first.

What it reported doing in 2024

This was njcf's seventh year of operation, and we have continued to support school leaders and community-based organizations by investing in building capacity to get more families involved in the conversation about improving educational opportunities.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 97% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 49% for direct work, and 51% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of total spending goes to programs and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 63
  • Transparency & Controls: 81
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 70
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 42.5%; rating input score 43
  • Program expense ratio: 87.5%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $174.6 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 87%; rating input score 87; 19th 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: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: 52.1%; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.49; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 15%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 11.1% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15.4% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 29.6% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 42.5% of revenue deployed · 87.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $5.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $283K · 11 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $738K reported
  • Consistency: 27 of 28 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2018 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 25 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 23 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 43/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 51/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.