Savannah Smiles
Legal name: Savannah Smiles Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 651314241
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2015–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2016
- Location
- Slidell, LA, USA
- Phone
- (985) 201-8925
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Fund Raising and Fund Distribution
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $305,717
- Expenses
- $263,138
- Assets
- $360,793
- Liabilities
- $5,751
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
13 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JENNIFER SCHARFENSTEIN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
- GARY LAFOLLETTE (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- JENNIFER SCHARFENSTEIN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $38,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We offer a range of programs for all ages.
What it reported doing in 2024
Helping other families during the loss of their child has been and continues to be savannah smiles primary ministry. Our family didn't carry life insurance on our children--most families don't. Parents never think insurance is something they need on their child. In our mind, we believe that our children should never precede us in death. Sometimes, that isn't how things happen. Through the generous outpouring of support from family and friends, we didn't experience a financial burden in burial costs when savannah went to heaven.
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
STRONG - 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 some filed totals do not add up.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 84
- Transparency & Controls: 86
- Accountability: 66
- Sustainability: 53
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 78.8%; rating input score 79
- Program expense ratio: 90.7%; rating input score 91
- Fundraising efficiency: $111.95 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 26th 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: 69.2%; rating input score 69; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Fail
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 13.9%; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.37; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 14.4%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.6% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 78.8% of revenue deployed · 90.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 13 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $239K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $38K · 13 people listed
- Consistency: 27 of 28 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 8 filing years from 2015 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 25/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.