Tennessee Association for Childrens Early Education

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
237037075
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2017
Location
Nashville, TN, USA
Phone
6152790111
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$79,781
Expenses
$85,818
Assets
$63,166
Liabilities
$12,884

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

Leadership & pay

8 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Taylor Thurnau (Vice President)
  • Kathy Ennis (President)

People named in this filing

  • Connie Casha (SECA Rep)
  • Tracy Bryant (Secretary)
  • Taylor Thurnau (Vice President)

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

Tacee exists to provide members with professional development opportunities and to advocate for best practices in the care, development, and education of Tennessee's young children.

What it reported doing in 2025

Annual conference- to provide its members with professional development opportunities and to advocate for best practices in the care, development, and education of Tennessee's young children. This annual conference is a three day conference and was attended by over 500 early childhood professionals this past year. Each participant was given the opportunity to attend various workshops dealing with all aspects of child development and education over the course of the seminar.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 73% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 77% for direct work, and 23% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 59
  • Accountability: 94
  • Sustainability: 35
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 92.7%; rating input score 93
  • Program expense ratio: 86.2%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 0%; rating input score 0; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 86
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -7.6%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.74; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -2.2% per year; rating input score 0; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -6.6% per year; rating input score 0; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -15.4% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 92.7% of revenue deployed · 86.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 6 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $74K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 8 people listed
  • Consistency: 22 of 23 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes grants
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2014 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 43/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 23/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 11/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 58/100.