Spirit at Play Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 810471947
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Missoula, MT, USA
- Phone
- 4067287001
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $440,441
- Expenses
- $425,030
- Assets
- $359,820
- Liabilities
- $67,142
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
13 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- SUSAN WOLFSEN (Executive Dir.): $64,174 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Early childhood education and care.
What it reported doing in 2024
Spirit at Play (SAP) Early Child Program, established in 1991, serves children from ages 2 to 6 during the school term and children up to age 9 in the summer program. This non-profit educational program is licensed through the State of Montanas Department of Public Health & Human Services.The school strives to follow the National Association for the Education of Young Childrens (NAEYC) guidelines for early childhood programs. NAEYCs Developmentally Appropriate Practice, Howard Gardners Multiple Intelligences Theory, Reggio Emilia Philosophy, Play-Based Education and the Project Approach are blended and utilized as educational systems for the children enrolled in the program. Spirit at Play is continually working toward being sustainable and the children are being taught sustainable ways to work within the school and the local community to utilize its resources.The School is committed to providing early childhood education to the whole community and does not participate in any form of discrimination based on race, religion, sex, national origin, handicap, or age.Some of the unique activities that the staff make available to children and families enrolled in the school are: swimming, ice skating, sign language, creative movement, exposure to other languages and cultures, music and theater.During our fiscal year ending 8-31-25, we served 40 different children throughout the year, including our summer program.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 98% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program 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
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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 75
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 79
- Sustainability: 38
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 81.6%; rating input score 82
- Program expense ratio: 85.2%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: $1.09 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- 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: 3.5%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.85; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.19; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 15.1%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2.8% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2.7% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 10.8% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 81.6% of revenue deployed · 85.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $362K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $64K · 13 people listed
- Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 6/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 7 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 47/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 36/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 20/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.