The Children's Playhouse Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 270065653
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2018–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2017
- Location
- Boone, NC, USA
- Phone
- 8282630011
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Youth Development Programs
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $285,287
- Expenses
- $326,256
- Assets
- $493,128
- Liabilities
- $8,134
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Kathy Parham (Executive Director)
- Sherry Street-Tobin (Past President)
- Julia Larson (President)
- Seth Sullivan (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- Kathy Parham (Executive Director): $66,118 total reported compensation
- Ellen Lewis (Director of Visitor Services): $54,465 total reported compensation
- Katharine Schultz (Operations Manager): $40,006 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Childrens Playhouse builds community by engaging children from birth to age 8 in educational play while offering friendly support to parents and caregivers. It serves as an informal town square for the High Country, a unique place where out-of-towners and locals, experienced parents and eager first-timers, and people of all classes are brought together to share the joy of playful learning with their children. Stimulating arts and science-based programs, enticing play areas, and informative parenting resources all support this mission.
What it reported doing in 2024
Outreach: The Playhouse held the 10th BuildFest, a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) festival for kids 2-12 on Saturday, April 5, 2025 at Watauga High School. The event featured more than 100 hands-on acitivites, physics and magic shows, and attracted 1704 attendees and 208 volunteers. The Playhouse had 18 other outreach events including Saturday morning Kids Corner activities at the Watauga County Farmers Market, the Back to School Festival, Fairy Day, library events, parent meetings, and a science program visit to Valle Crucis Elementary School. The museum also provided space for 49 meetings of the Babes on Blankets support group and three meetings of Hablememos Chicas.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 72
- Transparency & Controls: 85
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 29
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 76.3%; rating input score 76
- Program expense ratio: 66.1%; rating input score 66
- Fundraising efficiency: $39.1 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 13th 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: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -14.4%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.51; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 49.2%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 14.3% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 10.8% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 19.7% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 76.3% of revenue deployed · 66.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $216K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $66K · 14 people listed
- Consistency: 23 of 24 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2018 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- 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.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 18/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 52/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.