The Aspen Effect Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
822911196
IRS 990 coverage
2023–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2022, Form 990-N 2021
Location
Castle Rock, CO, USA
Phone
7205004308
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Children's, Youth Services

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$356,070
Expenses
$273,147
Assets
$169,416
Liabilities
$5,135

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Lara Wise (President)
  • Amanda Kearney-Smith (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • JERRY VAN LEUVEN (Executive Dir.): $123,416 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

We build resilient, connected families by preventing youth mental health crises and harmful behaviors through mentors, animals, and a healing ranch environment.

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025, we continued transforming youth mental health with evidence-based principles. At our ranch experiences, youth and parents learned to breathe, connect and heal alongside farm animals and trained, volunteer mentors. Through partnerships with the school district, the sheriffs office and various county agencies, we served over 200 youth with 50 mentors. Our work is backed by a 100% parent referral rate and multiple county awards and grants.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 84% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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 a large share of total spending goes to programs. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 60
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 48
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 52.8%; rating input score 53
  • Program expense ratio: 68.8%; rating input score 69
  • Fundraising efficiency: $45.08 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 72; 72nd 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • 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: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 23.3%; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.62; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 45.2%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 36.1% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 44.3% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 27.5% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 52.8% of revenue deployed · 68.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $188K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $123K · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2023 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 53/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 29/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 31/100.