Northcoast Childrens Services Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
941749823
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Arcata, CA, USA
Phone
7078227206
Rating
91
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$14,463,161
Expenses
$14,704,488
Assets
$4,758,674
Liabilities
$4,298,258

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

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Patrick Rutherford (President)
  • Denise Carpenter (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Rodney Oien (Executive Dir.): $128,708 total reported compensation
  • Dawn DeHart (Family Svcs Dir.): $113,973 total reported compensation
  • Hollie Miller (Fiscal Director): $107,194 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 NCS Vision: To nurture and empower the whole child and family, to enhance our quality of life, and create a more peaceful community.

What it reported doing in 2024

Head Start/Early Head Start: NCS HS/EHS programs are federally funded by the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Head Start. Programs work in partnership with parents to promote healthy child development in the areas of language and literacy development, cognitive development, large and small motor development, social emotional development and health and safety knowledge. In addition to educational services, Head Start and Early Head Start programs partner with families to support the whole family in identifying any family needs or concerns, as well as assisting with family goals and resources. NCS was funded for 105 Head Start Slots and 144 EHS slots in the 2024-25 school year.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 99% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 99
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 23
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 99.5%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: $222.1 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -1.7%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.32; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.9; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.1%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.3% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 99.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $14.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $129K · 11 people listed
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $1.1M reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 24/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 8/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 10/100.