Teaching Tree Early Childhood Learning Center

What it reported doing in 2025

Teaching tree has experienced significant growth to meet the increasing childcare demand in our community over the last 5 years. Together, our two centers have the capacity to serve over 600 children annually. With this continued growth, we've expanded our team by bringing on new early childhood teachers, assistant teachers, administrators, and kitchen staff. Teaching tree can now employ approximately 90 team members. This growth reflects our dedication to delivering high-quality childcare and supporting the families we serve. In 2025, we continued our efforts to make therapy services accessible to families. By partnering with a number of different service providers, we have been able to connect families with mental health therapy, and speech, occupational and physical therapy for their children. We provide space onsite for therapists, and, with parent permission, they are able to work with children in need of supports, without parents taking time out of their workday to get children to and from appointments. We served 543 children in 2025. Of this total, 37% lived in low-income families, 26% were of diverse backgrounds, and 19% lived in single parent families. We supported low-income families' efforts toward self-sufficiency by providing them with 241,534 in childcare scholarships and 170,075 childcare assistance to 33 employee children. In addition to enabling parents to work, this assistance and scholarships ensured that their disadvantaged young children were receiving quality care and participating in an evidence-based early learning program that built upon their strengths, helped them overcome adversity, and prepared them to succeed in school. In 2025, teaching tree also: helped close the achievement gap by (1) providing full-day care and education for 163 children in the upk program (2) graduating 82 students ready to enter kindergarten with the skills to succeed and (3) increasing children's skills in all 6 developmental domains essential to school success (physical, cognitive, social-emotional, language, math, literacy). Teaching tree served free and reduced lunch to 139 students and provided children with 147,815 nutritious meals and snacks. To address the childcare workforce crisis, we secured funding to continue a monthly incentive bonus program. Additionally, our board approved raising starting pay for teachers and aides and giving annual raises to existing staff.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 76.6%; rating input score 77
• Program expense ratio: 88.6%; rating input score 89
• Fundraising efficiency: $3.76 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 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: NotApplicable
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 10.2%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.26; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.21; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 2.4%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 13.8% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 12% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 12.2% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings