The Challenger Learning Cntr of Me
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 010542376
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Bangor, ME, USA
- Phone
- 2079902900
- Rating
- 57
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Specialized Education Institutions
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,999,137
- Expenses
- $613,292
- Assets
- $3,478,959
- Liabilities
- $340,376
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JEFFREY HECKER (PRESIDENT)
People named in this filing
- WILLIAM BUCKLEY (DIRECTOR)
- RICHARD CATTELLE (DIRECTOR)
- HANS PETERSON (SECRETARY)
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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Provide educational opportunities for children
What it reported doing in 2024
Space science education for children pre-k through middle school age. Including home schooled children. Provided simulated space shuttle missions for more than one thousand Maine students and children.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 90% 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
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. 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: 40
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 24
- Sustainability: 89
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 18.4%; rating input score 18
- Program expense ratio: 89.3%; rating input score 89
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
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: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: Limited
- Governance controls: 4 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 57
- 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: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 79.6%; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.67; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 12.6% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 0.6% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 18.4% of revenue deployed · 89.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $548K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 18/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 6 not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.