Pikes Peak United Way

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
840511799
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Colorado Springs, CO, USA
Phone
7196321543
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Federated Giving Programs

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,862,744
Expenses
$5,144,480
Assets
$11,308,653
Liabilities
$1,472,145

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

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CINDY AUBREY (PRESIDENT/CEO (TO 10/2024))
  • ANNA CAMILLE BREMER (PRESIDENT/CEO (FROM 10/2024))

Highest reported compensation

  • CINDY AUBREY (PRESIDENT/CEO (TO 10/2024)): $173,693 total reported compensation
  • HEATHER STEINMAN (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER (TO 1/2025)): $121,465 total reported compensation
  • TOM HILTON (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $116,435 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To enhance youth success and family stability in the pikes peak region by leading and lifting the most vulnerable in our community with mentorship, life resources and real job opportunities. Our signature programs (continued on sch o) (continued) and partner agencies intently focus on connecting youth and their families to resources at the beginning of their life journey to ensure access to fundamental needs of food, shelter and learning resources for all. #strongertogether

What it reported doing in 2024

Community impact - impact our impact department addresses a number of needs in el paso and teller counties through several different initiatives; dolly parton imagination library provides books to youth 0-5 years old with 1 age-appropriate book mailed each month to the child's mailing address. There are currently over 7,400 children enrolled in the program and we have distributed over 640,000 books during the life of this program. Our food distribution program provides healthy meals to low-income individuals and families needing food assistance, staffing a distribution site at mitchell high school. In the last year we served over 7,000 families with over 300,000 pounds of healthy, free groceries in el paso county. We also run a vita program (volunteer income tax assistance) that provides free federal and state tax income preparation for individuals earning less than $66,000 annually. Last year our vita volunteers contributed over 4,000 hours in federal and state tax return preparation. We prepared almost 2,000 income tax returns, and filed over $3,000,000 of refunds due to our clients. We also manage a volunteer program that aligns volunteers with local opportunities, including our food distribution, community investment process, vita programs, and much more. Last year we matched over 1,800 local volunteers with over 13,000 hours of volunteer opportunities, mainly with local partner non-profits and our own programs.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 76% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 73
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 38
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80%; rating input score 80
  • Program expense ratio: 73.1%; rating input score 73
  • Fundraising efficiency: $9.43 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 78.9%; rating input score 79; 21st 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; 63rd 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: -5.8%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.2; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.13; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 8.5%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -3% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -1.6% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80% of revenue deployed · 73.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $3.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $174K · 21 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 45 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 40 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 36/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 19/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 35/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 53/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.