Southside Early Childhood Center

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
430685348
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
St Louis, MO, USA
Phone
3148650322
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Child Day Care

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,502,501
Expenses
$5,133,277
Assets
$5,853,074
Liabilities
$272,799

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

Leadership & pay

22 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • LEAH HAWKINS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • PAT MILLER (BOARD PRESIDENT)
  • KAYLA DENNIS (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • JACKIE WEAVER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (FORMER))

Highest reported compensation

  • LEAH HAWKINS (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $71,868 total reported compensation
  • JACKIE WEAVER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (FORMER)): $68,623 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Every child has potential, but not every child has opportunity. At southside, we know that early childhood education can be the difference between being left behind and leading the way. Our mission is to create lasting opportunity in the lives of our children-and their families-by providing the best in early childhood education and support services. We put our mission into action through our four pillars of education, health, connection, and thought leadership.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025, southside early childhood center provided high quality early childhood education, health, early intervention and family support services to 260 children, ages six weeks to five years of age. Southside programming focuses on promoting children's cognitive, social-emotional, language, and physical development in a diverse and inclusive setting. In addition, we provide family support services to increase financial stability, increase parenting skills and reduce overall family stress. On average, 90% of children meet or exceed developmental expectations each year.

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.
  • 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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 72
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 93%; rating input score 93
  • Program expense ratio: 81.5%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $15.18 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • 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: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • 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: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -14%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.14; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.7%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.1% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 93% of revenue deployed · 81.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 20 of 20 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $4.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $72K · 22 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 35 of 36 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2013 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 50/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 38/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.