Room to Grow National Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
134012096
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Bronx, NY, USA
Phone
2126207800
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Children's, Youth Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,342,831
Expenses
$7,322,858
Assets
$11,740,404
Liabilities
$1,940,403

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JULIE BURNS (PRESIDENT)
  • AKILAH KING (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • AKILAH KING (CEO): $296,884 total reported compensation
  • JOANNA GROCCIA (DIRECTOR, PROGRAM OPERATIO): $187,180 total reported compensation
  • SANDRA P MEDEIROS (REGIONAL DIRECTOR - NEW YORK): $169,585 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Room to grow offers structured coaching, material goods, and community connections to support parents as they activate their natural strengths and expand their knowledge, so children thrive from the start.

What it reported doing in 2025

Room to grow measures our success in accordance with our preliminary programmatic goals: 1) children will thrive during their critical first three years of life, meeting appropriate language, cognitive, social, and physical milestones in order to ensure school readiness, leading to ongoing educational and later-life success; 2) parents will gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence necessary to assure that children fulfill their emotional, intellectual, and physical potential; and 3) low-income families will build safe, healthy, and enriching home environments in which children will grow and learn.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 88% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 22
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 94.2%; rating input score 94
  • Program expense ratio: 67.1%; rating input score 67
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.44 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th 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: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -37.1%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.6; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.17; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 19.3%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 10.5% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.1% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.4% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 94.2% of revenue deployed · 67.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $4.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $297K · 19 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $150K reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 50/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.