Pretend City the Children's Museum of Orange County

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
330761254
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Irvine, CA, USA
Phone
9494283900
Rating
69
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Children's Museums

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,960,764
Expenses
$4,384,225
Assets
$17,147,264
Liabilities
$1,062,135

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

Leadership & pay

35 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Ellen Pais (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Ellen Pais (Executive Director): $210,272 total reported compensation
  • Sue Harrison (Chief Development Officer): $183,348 total reported compensation
  • Maria Tinajero-Dowdle (Chief Operating Officer): $146,162 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Pretend City is a children's museum focused on the developmental growth and success of children 0-8 through play, imagination and real-world experiences while building the capacity of adults to care for them.

What it reported doing in 2024

For 2024, 201,997 children and adults visited Pretend City Children's Museum. That number included 6,456 children and chaperones experiencing Pretend City via 120 subsidized school or group field trips and 1,893 students and chaperones coming via 32 fully funded scholarships field trips. 5,864 adults and children enjoyed the educational learning Pretend City has to offer while attending birthday parties or facility rentals hosted at the museum. Over 12,000 free admission tickets were distributed to nonprofit organizations and communities throughout Orange County. Through our Good to go! Program initiative, Pretend City screened 671 children for developmental delay throughout the year. 653 health screenings were performed at our annual School Readiness Fair. Additionally, many children received a free screening from one of the following: vision, dental, fine/gross motor, speech & language, bmi, and audiology during our Way to Play days. Pretend City was able to serve 3,420 children and family members at our neurodivergent family nights and 1,893 children and family members attended our baby Steps development mornings.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 56
  • Transparency & Controls: 67
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 63
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 60%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 67.2%; rating input score 67
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.15 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • 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: 11.6%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.91; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 20.8%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1.2% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16.6% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 60% of revenue deployed · 67.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 27 of 27 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $210K · 35 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.2M reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 12 filing years from 2012 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 5/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.