The Campbell Institute

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
931095351
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Portland, OR, USA
Phone
5032199034
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,849,412
Expenses
$4,732,230
Assets
$11,459,920
Liabilities
$811,686

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

Leadership & pay

25 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KALI THORNE LADD (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • KALI THORNE LADD (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $270,018 total reported compensation
  • EMILY GILLILAND (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $200,702 total reported compensation
  • ERICA MULLEN (CHIEF RESOURCE & INNOVATION OFFICER): $163,371 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Children's institute's mission is to leverage research, practice, policy, and advocacy to shift systems toward justice for families so that all of Oregon's children, prenatal to grade 5, have access to opportunity.

What it reported doing in 2025

'supporting early years and early grades success: early school success (ess) is a long-term approach that provides school districts with the tools needed to offer developmentally appropriate instruction to children from preschool through fifth grade. Ess is designed to make preschool and elementary school alignment possible while transforming the learning experience to yield better outcomes for children, families, and educators. To date, ess has trained over 150 educators, aligned instruction for more than 10,000 students, and supported improved attendance and literacy outcomes in pilot districts beaverton, forest grove, lincoln county, and st. Helens school districts. The early school success academy ("academy") offers a one-year cohort-based learning experience for educators and leaders working to strengthen early learning and early grades in their district and is building a statewide network. The academy specifically targets and recruits school districts in rural communities and typically sees rural districts making up 50-65% of participants. District teams from across Oregon come together four times a year for professional learning sessions and ci provides coaching to help them implement their learnings. During the 2024-25 school year, educators from 15 school districts participated, impacting the educational experience of over 50,000 students. Recognizing the unique needs of remote rural communities, ci launched a rural coaching program in 2025. This model builds on lessons from our 10-year partnership with yoncalla school district, ess, and the academy. A dedicated rural coach works alongside school and community leaders to identify strengths and needs, offering tailored coaching in high-quality early learning, vertical alignment, and early literacy.research is clear on the importance and effectiveness of early literacy, beginning at birth and continuing through third grade. With statewide reading proficiency hovering around 40%, ci added an early literacy specialist to provide coaching and content support across ess, the academy, and rural coaching. This specialist strengthens literacy capacity among educators and caregivers, equipping them with essential skills to foster early literacy development from preschool to third grade.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 81% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 92% 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 85
  • Transparency & Controls: 87
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 27
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 82%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.6 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: -66.1%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.42; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 27.8%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.3% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.1% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13.4% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 82% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $3.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $270K · 25 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $340K reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 16 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 8 filed related-organization links
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 1/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 54/100.