North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
453971534
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2012
Location
Raleigh, NC, USA
Phone
9198953290
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Nonmonetary Support N.E.C.

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,245,811
Expenses
$1,151,598
Assets
$2,047,987
Liabilities
$62,675

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • THERESA STACKER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • THERESA STACKER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $149,582 total reported compensation
  • LISA FINALDI (COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT LEADER): $123,033 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To marshal North Carolina's great people, ideas, and achievements to ensure opportunity and success for every child.

What it reported doing in 2025

Promoting understanding:* effectively communicating the importance of early childhood investments.* centering racial equity in our work and communicating why it is critical to close the opportunity gap for children of color in their earliest years.* engaging business leaders and elected officials to champion early care and education.* elevating community and family voices to guide decision-making.continued on schedule ospearheading collaboration:* convening state and local health, education, family, business, and policy leaders to build strong alignment across early childhood systems and actively foster discussion, dialogue, and collaboration.*encouraging accountability.advancing policies:* providing policy analysis, resources, and data.* inspiring innovation and action for change.* connecting and clarifying the complex landscape of policies, programs, research, and state agency agendas that impact children and families.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 89% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 87% 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

STRONG - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Expenses are high relative to revenue and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 49
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 65.9%; rating input score 66
  • Program expense ratio: 71.3%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: $48 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 78th 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; 64th 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: 7.6%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.78; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 23.7%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.5% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 10.6% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 65.9% of revenue deployed · 71.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $821K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $150K · 15 people listed
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2013 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 21 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 17 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.

  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 51/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 49/100.