Roaring Fork Valley Early Learning Fund

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
550873041
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Glenwood Springs, CO, USA
Phone
9703195034
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other

Reported finances

Revenue
$484,731
Expenses
$406,957
Assets
$372,070
Liabilities
$66,834

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

Leadership & pay

9 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ANNA LORENSON MD (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • SUZANNE WHEELER-DEL PICCOLO (EXECUTIVE DI): $88,680 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 engage children from birth to age 5 in a routine of daily book sharing with their parents to foster healthy brain development, parent-child bonding, and early literacy skills critical for school and life success.

What it reported doing in 2024

Our innovative, evidence-based literacy programs provide robust and equitable early childhood experiences and resources for children from aspen to parachute so that parents create a family-reading routine and a healthy home life, which prepare their child to enter kindergarten ready to learn. Our red book bags promote parent-child bonding and increase read-aloud time at home by providing families of preschool and kindergarten children with 75+ high-quality books during the school year. Each week over 600 children take home a different red bag filled with 3-4 books to read with their parents, enjoy by themselves, and return for a new bag the following week. Each bag provides resources to motivate parents to read at home with their families regularly. Our summer camp is a parent-child, early-learning parent network that has expanded into four local communities serving up to 110 families. These camps combine an outdoor experience with early childhood literacy and learning experiences.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 69% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 92% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 66
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 69
  • Sustainability: 48
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 66.4%; rating input score 66
  • Program expense ratio: 78.5%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.56 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

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: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th 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: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 16%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.91; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.18; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 21.8%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 66.4% of revenue deployed · 78.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 2 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $319K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $89K · 9 people listed
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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: 5 of 7 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 32/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 38/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.