Roots Academy Incorporated

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
873566228
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
St Johns, FL, USA
Phone
9044818843
Rating
62
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Child Day Care
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,148,790
Expenses
$1,124,806
Assets
$258,836
Liabilities
$145,533

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Wendy Whitlow (President)
  • Amy Joy Chadwich (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Wendy Whitlow (President): $61,500 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Roots Academy is a Christian Early Learning Center and Preschool seeking to provide the best care and learning environment through teacher-directed activities that focus on both learning and play. We provide nurturing environments where children will make new friends, explore, discover, and have fun while learning about God's love and plan for their life.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 83% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
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 - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 50
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 44
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 55%; rating input score 55
  • Program expense ratio: 56.2%; rating input score 56
  • Fundraising efficiency: $1.37 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2.1%; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.23; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.56; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.5%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 30.2% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 28.7% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 32.7% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 55% of revenue deployed · 56.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $632K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $62K · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 55/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 56/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 4/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 37/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 11/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 49/100.