Project Protect Our Children
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 843113284
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2024–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023, Form 990-N 2020
- Location
- Kingwood, TX, USA
- Phone
- 3463867762
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Protection Against Abuse
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $275,967
- Expenses
- $232,264
- Assets
- $230,126
- Liabilities
- $963
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Denise Mears (President)
People named in this filing
- Denise Mears (President)
- Dahlia Lemesh (Treasurer)
- Tiffany Calderone (Secretary)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We are dedicated to preventing child sex trafficking, exploitation and abuse through proactive community engagement, preventative educational programs, awareness and empowerment opportunities.
What it reported doing in 2025
The Youth Action Board (YAB) is a student-led program that engages middleand high school students in peer-driven advocacy and awareness campaigns.By educating youth on trafficking and empowering them to lead preventionefforts, YAB fosters leadership, activism, and generational change in thefight against exploitation.Our training for school personnel and youth-serving professionals providesessential tools to recognize, prevent, and respond to human traffickingmaking schools and youth organizations stronger frontline defenses.PPOC also offers Internet Safety and Human Trafficking training forparents, guardians, and youth. Caregivers are educated on online dangerslike grooming and sextortion, while youth gain critical digital literacyskills and learn how to navigate online spaces safely. Both versions of thetraining promote healthy relationships and safe social media practices.The E3 Youth Development Program supports at-risk youth by providing lifeskills training, professional development, and connections to communityresources. By reducing vulnerabilities and promoting self-sufficiency, E3helps interrupt pathways to exploitation.Our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program engages businesses inanti-trafficking efforts by helping them implement ethical practices andawareness strategies within their operations and supply chains. Thesepartnerships extend the impact of prevention into the corporate sector.Finally, our Human Trafficking 101 for Every Employee training buildsawareness across industries, empowering employees to recognize signs oftrafficking and respond appropriately. This training extends preventionpractices beyond traditional settings and into everyday workplaces andcommunities.Together, these programs advance our mission to build informed, resilientcommunities united in the fight to protect vulnerable youth fromtrafficking and exploitation.
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.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 71
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 58
- Sustainability: 56
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 75.3%; rating input score 75
- Program expense ratio: 89.4%; rating input score 89
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 15.8%; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.99; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 44.8% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 28.5% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 39.6% per year; rating input score 100; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 75.3% of revenue deployed · 89.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 3 of 3 board members independent · 0 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $208K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 6 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 41/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 45/100.