Smart Start of New Hanover County

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
561951952
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Wilmington, NC, USA
Phone
9108153731
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,840,664
Expenses
$1,829,146
Assets
$722,469
Liabilities
$86,377

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

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Jane Morrow (Executive Director)
  • Justine Lewis (Vice President)
  • Clayton Roberts (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Jane Morrow (Executive Director): $97,986 total reported compensation
  • Tina Hughes (Finance Director): $79,113 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Smart Start of New Hanover County seeks to build bridges to develop, sustain, and enhance health, family support, and early education services for all children, ages birth to five.

What it reported doing in 2024

Programming & Evaluation (PE) (5603-001): Planning activities may include conducting needs and assessments to inform programmatic priorities, developing a strategic plan based on community needs, and researching and selection of evidence-based and evidence-informed activities that best match the strategic plan and Community Early Childhood Profile (EC Profile). Coordination activities include providing technical assistance and oversight to service providers and grantees regarding program management, program implementation, and financial/programmatic monitoring. Evaluation activities may include the development, measurement and reporting of goals, providing technical assistance to service providers and grantees regarding data collection and program management, and the review of program effectiveness related to county level data such as the EC Profile, especially in relation to the goals and objectives in the partnerships strategic plan. Smart Start funds may be used to purchase and pay for refreshments/meals for meetings and events and professional development for staff. The Program, Planning, Coordination, and Evaluation team may participate in programmatic and early childhood outreach and public awareness events.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 82% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 96% 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 83
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84.5%; rating input score 84
  • Program expense ratio: 84.8%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $117.53 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 98.9%; rating input score 99; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • 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: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 0.6%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.39; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.7%; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.9% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.5% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 84.5% of revenue deployed · 84.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 18 of 19 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 14 filed program accomplishments · $1.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $98K · 21 people listed
  • Consistency: 31 of 32 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • 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: 3 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: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 38/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 19/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 38/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 40/100.