Steele Cooperative Preschool

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
840402599
IRS 990 coverage
2021–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2020
Location
Denver, CO, USA
Phone
3034330832
Rating
67
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$149,540
Expenses
$127,778
Assets
$570,453
Liabilities
$176,228

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

Leadership & pay

14 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Vanessa Sweeney (Director & Teacher): $36,171 total reported compensation
  • Debbie Keller (Teacher): $25,161 total reported compensation
  • Lauren Miller (Enrollment Coordinator): $726 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To provide a cooperative preschool program for northwest denver children aged two and a half to five years old.

What it reported doing in 2025

Providing a parent-led, professionally-staffed cooperative preschool that offers a play-based enviroment. 40 children are served in 3 classes. Parents are actively & directly involved in their childrens earliest education & work alongside teachers in the classroom & on committees

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 89% 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

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and some filed totals do not add up.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 56
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 62
  • Sustainability: 55
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 59.5%; rating input score 60
  • Program expense ratio: 69.3%; rating input score 69
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 24th 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: 71.4%; rating input score 71; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Limited
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 14.6%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.46; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.31; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 48.6%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.8% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.8% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 59.5% of revenue deployed · 69.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 10 of 14 board members independent · 4 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $89K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $36K · 14 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 24 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 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: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 13/100.